Successful Auction in Honor of NFT Patient

Volunteers for NFT patient Billy Masterson recently held a very successful auction to raise funds for his transplant-related expenses!

For three days leading up to the event, they posted photos of the auction items on Facebook, allowing people to enter early bids before the big day. More than 60 items were donated, including yummy gift baskets, sports tickets, comedy show tickets, Christmas decorations and jewelry.

Even with inclement weather, the hard work of Billy's dedicated volunteers paid off, as the event raised more than $2,600!

December Patient of the Month: Steve Collins

About 10 years ago, Steve Collins began battling what he thought was simply a cold and congestion. After several rounds of antibiotics and no improvement, he began experiencing shortness of breath and drove himself to the ER on Christmas Eve. He was shocked to learn he was suffering from congestive heart failure, which has caused his mitral valve to leak. Over the years, his health worsened until doctors said a heart transplant was critical to his survival.

Thankfully, after being on the transplant waiting list for just three months, he received his lifesaving transplant on November 29, 2011! Sadly, a complication during surgery damaged his spinal cord and has left him unable to walk. He will most likely endure a year of physical therapy before doctors can know how long-term the damage is.

Despite these challenges, Steve has remained optimistic and never lost his sense of humor. He loves making people laugh, and tries to brighten others' days even when his are dark. He is a proud father of two adult daughters and grandfather of two. His wife, Vicki, has been by his side every step of the way; he is thankful for the love and support from her and her daughter, who is away at college, and their family and friends. Steve, a proud LSU graduate, loves playing the guitar, songwriting and going to concerts and movies, but lately he only has the energy to play the guitar. He looks forward to resuming his active lifestyle and visiting with his newest grandbaby, who was born this fall.

To read more about Steve or to make a donation in his honor, visit the NFT website.

Unusual Heart Transplant Saves Little Girl's Life

Over a seven year period of time, more than 500 children in need of a heart transplant didn't get one in time. But one little girl's successful surgery may be changing the rules, and in the process, saving lives.

Four-year-old Kallie Finn and her daddy, Mitch, are two of a kind.

"We're real close anyway, she's always been my little buddy," said Mitch Finn.

When he was 5, Mitch Finn had to have a heart transplant. This year, he learned Kallie's heart was failing, and she'd need one, too.

A ventricular assist device kept Kallie alive for weeks, but the clock was ticking.

"Essentially three times as many kids die on a waiting list compared to adults," said Dr. Pirooz Eghtesady, chief of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at St. Louis Children's Hospital and co-director of the Heart Center.

So Kallie's cardiac surgeon made a surprising call. He decided to give her a donor heart other centers had rejected - a heart with a hole in it.

Holes in hearts are congenital defects that change the normal flow of blood through the heart. Treatment for the condition has greatly improved over the last few decades and kids who have it can survive to adulthood.

"It was hard for me to justify throwing away really a good organ for a child who needed it," said Dr. Eghtesady.

Kallie's surgery went perfectly.

"I closed the hole in the heart and then I did the transplant," said Dr. Eghtesady.

As she gets ready to head home, Kallie's doctor hopes her story opens a door.

"There are probably a lot of hearts that can be used that perhaps are not used, and perhaps this is an opportunity to extend it cautiously to other potential organs that may be available," said Dr. Eghtesady.

Kallie's doctors say given another similar situation, they wouldn't hesitate to use a heart with a hole, as long as it was otherwise healthy. They're hoping other doctors will follow suit.

(Copyright ©2011 KABC-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

November Transplant Birthdays

Congratulations to our patients who received lifesaving transplants last month! We are so happy for you all!

• Jonta Bailey (heart) at Duke University Medical Center
• Bill Bulford (double-lung) at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
• Dustin Burton (liver) at Tampa General Hospital
• David Hackley (kidney) at Ohio State University Medical Center
• David Kinley (liver) at Carolinas Medical Center
• James Reese (kidney) at Duke University Medical Center
• Jeffrey Rifkin (kidney) at Carolinas Medical Center
• Felton Tabor (liver) at Medical University of South Carolina

Thankful For His Good Health, Memphis Priest Willingly Shares in 'Act of Gratitude'

The following article is from The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, TN:

Kidney transplant recipient Ed Garavelli and kidney donor Father Val Handwerker, recovering from their Nov. 8 surgeries, are back at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where they join in prayer with Tobia Fuller, a member of the church's Pastoral Council.

By the time parishioners, parents, students and staff at Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception got Father Val's e-mail that Tuesday morning, Nov. 8, he was already in surgery.

"Peace in the Lord!" read the e-mail from Rev. Valentine Handwerker, a 63-year-old Catholic priest who lives his life as if every day should end with an exclamation point.

"I want to go over something with you. Often times I speak about stewardship. As you know, stewardship first and foremost is gratitude to God for the gifts and blessings entrusted to us. Out of that gratitude to God, then, we are called as stewards to use these gifts and blessings not only for ourselves but also for the good of others."

In 2009, Father Val became Monsignor Val, an honor bestowed on him by the Pope at the request of Bishop J. Terry Steib of Memphis. The title is from the French mon seigneur, meaning "my lord."
Handwerker, the son of Kathleen and Vallie Handwerker of North Memphis, is one of the community's leading advocates for social justice, and still prefers the title Father Val.

"Throughout my life God has blessed me with excellent health. In ministry I am often with persons who face serious illness. Being with them only reinforces the blessings of health which I have received. Over time I have been drawn to use my health also for the benefit of others."

On Dec. 16, 2009, Father Val sat at his kitchen table and read a newspaper article about 13 patients who received new kidneys from donors they didn't know. It was the world's largest kidney exchange. "It's not like I'm doing anything courageous," one of the donors told The Associated Press. "If I don't donate, who will?"

As the article noted, there are about 90,000 people on a national waiting list for a kidney transplant.

About 17,000 kidney transplants are performed each year -- about 5,000 from living donors.

"I need to do this," Father Val thought as he read the article. Over the next several months, he thought about it and prayed about it. Earlier this year, he told his doctor he wanted to donate one of his kidneys to someone -- anyone -- who needed it.

"Out of prayer and discernment I have decided to be a living kidney donor. I have gone over that decision with my spiritual director. I have also sought the permission to be a living kidney donor from Bishop Steib. I am very grateful for his support throughout this process, and that recently Bishop Steib celebrated with me the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick."

The sacrament, also known as Extreme Unction or Last Rites, is no longer administered only to the dying, but also to those who are gravely ill or about to undergo a serious operation. As it says in James 5:14-15, "Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man."
On Sunday Oct. 30, Bishop Steib administered the sacrament to Father Val in a private ceremony with a few others at the Midtown Cathedral. On Sunday Nov. 6, Father Val administered the sacrament to the man who would receive one of his kidneys.

". . . In the beginning of this process I knew that I wanted to donate a kidney and was very open to placing this donation on the National Kidney Registry for my kidney to be given to an undesignated recipient in need of a transplant. During the testing process, however, I realized that a Cathedral parishioner with a serious kidney illness might need a kidney donor."

About a dozen years ago, around the time Father Val became rector of the Cathedral, Ed Garavelli, then 50 years old, was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, which usually leads to kidney failure.
Ed's kidney function began to decline gradually, then rapidly. About two years ago, Ed was placed on the kidney transplant waiting list, and was told it might take three to five years to get one.
"I was pretty sure I didn't have five years," Ed said.

". . . I knew that Ed already had a prospective kidney donor. I later learned that, during the medical tests, the prospective kidney donor found out that he was not a suitable candidate to donate a kidney. At the same time I learned how serious Ed's kidney failure is. Presently his kidneys are functioning only at 11%. As soon as I received word that I passed all the medical tests and am able to be a living kidney donor, I went to Ed and Jerri. Before that they had no idea that I was interested in being a living kidney donor. I then asked Ed if I could be his kidney donor."

Ed, the founder of Pinnacle Press, couldn't bring himself to ask anyone he knew to be a living donor, but a few offered to be tested. Ed's wife, Jerri, wasn't a match for his type B-positive blood. Her sister was, but then she developed kidney stones. High blood pressure eliminated two close friends.

About a week after the fourth potential donor fell through, Father Val called. He wanted to come to the house and talk.

"I thought he was going to ask us for a donation," Jerri said. "Instead he was bringing us one."

Ed, who like Father Val is 63, shook his head. "What can you say about a gift like that?"

"This morning, Tuesday, November 8th, Ed and I shall undergo surgery during which one of my kidneys will be transplanted to his body. It was only four days ago that the surgeons and specialists of the Transplant Institute at Methodist University Hospital gave their final approval for Ed and me to proceed with this surgery."

Surgeons removed Father Val's healthy left kidney and placed it in the right side of Ed's body. Each procedure took about two hours.

"Did it work?" Father Val asked Jerri as he was being wheeled to his room after surgery.
It did, Jerri assured him. "He was so delighted," she said. "He was like a little kid who had just given someone his favorite toy."

Ed jokes that he knows the recovery process won't be easy.

"Especially for me," Ed said. "If Father Val wants a favor, it's not like I can turn him down. I have this feeling I'll be washing a priest's car every week for the rest of my life."

"My surgeon, Dr. James Eason, thinks that I should be totally recovered from the surgery within two months. Hopefully I look forward to returning to the parish on a part-time basis in a few days."

After the surgeries, Ed bet Father Val an Italian dinner that he would be the first to return to Mass at the Cathedral.

They tied.

Last Sunday, when Ed and Jerri arrived for 10 a.m. Mass, Father Val was there as well.

"I'm grateful to be celebrating Mass with you this morning," the priest said. "I'm awed by what it means to be one body of Christ linked together."

He was speaking to the entire congregation but he was looking at Ed and Jerri.

". . . We thank all those who have made this possible, and we are very appreciative for the expertise and care by the medical staff of the Transplant Institute at Methodist University Hospital."

Parishioners are calling Father Val's gift a living homily.

"For many of us it brought forth the question, 'What am I giving back to others of our time, talents and treasures?'" said Dr. Gene Mangiante, a parishioner and a professor of surgery at the UT Health Science Center.

Steib said he considers "Monsignor Val's act of kindness to be heroic and life-saving."

Father Val sees his donation as an act of gratitude.

"Everything we have is a gift from God," he said, "a gift to share with others."

"I also want to thank Father Kris Rusin (and other 'visiting' priests), the Cathedral staff and other parishioners for 'covering' for me during my absence. I ask that you pray that Ed's body accepts his new kidney. Please pray for Ed's complete recovery, and mine."

While Father Val and Ed were in surgery, students at IC Cathedral School were praying the rosary. They had known that one teacher's husband was receiving a kidney, but they hadn't known who the donor was until that day.

"You could have heard a pin drop when we told them," said IC principal Karen Gephart. "This is such a great lesson in compassion."

Earlier in the school year, Jerri Garavelli was talking to her fifth-graders about her husband's pending transplant. They were curious about kidneys so she showed them a chart of the human body and explained how kidneys work.

One child asked why people have two kidneys.

"So we can give one away," another child replied.

Intermountain Healthcare Celebrates Kidney Transplant Milestone

The following article is from KSL.com Utah. To watch a video of this interview, visit the KSL Utah website.

History in the making, a cause for celebration, and a reason to give thanks: That's the way doctors with Intermountain Medical Center announced the 1,000th living donor kidney transplant on Monday.

The news was that much sweeter because the 1,000th was Pam Sheppard, who donated a kidney to her husband, Lee. "Believe me," he said, "we were a perfect match in marriage. Now we are a perfect match again."

On Thanksgiving last year, Lee and Pam Sheppard found themselves in an emergency room, followed by emergency removal of both of Lee's kidneys. Lee had been diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease 11 years prior, which killed with his father and grandfather.

In 2010, doctors had told Lee his kidneys would only last about a year. But large, dark cysts soon caused severe pain for Lee and brought concern about cancer from the doctors. Following the surgery, Lee began dialysis and Pam began to ponder giving him her kidney. "It was amazing how many lovely people came out of the woodwork and volunteered their kidneys," she said. "It's not something that's easy to say ‘thank you' to when somebody offers you such a great gift. I felt so privileged that I became the best match."

"How overwhelmingly grateful I am for my wife for making such a sacrifice," Lee said. "We feel so liberated and energized for what the future holds, so we're deeply grateful." "We already enjoyed a rich love together," Lee added, "but this last year, which has been a journey, has reinforced it in such a way that it's hard to put a finger on it."

Dr. James Stinson, a nephrologist at Intermountain Medical Center, recalled the first such donation, 28 years ago, when sister gave a kidney to her brother. "It freed him from dialysis and gave him many years of life that he would not otherwise have had," Stinson said.

He also praised the medical team and staff who coordinate to make successful transplants possible. Want to be a donor? Dr. Diane Alonso, a surgeon with the Intermountain Transplant Team, said Monday's milestone recognizes the courage and generosity of the human spirit. "It cements that living donation is a vial source of organs, not only in this state, but in the country," Alonso said.

"At our institution, 50 percent of our kidney donations are from live donors." That cuts down on the wait time for a kidney. In Utah, patients wait an average 10 months for a transplant. In California, however, the wait can be up to five or six years. Six months before she was cleared as a match, doctors discovered Pam had nodes on her lungs, so there were more tests to find out if she had cancer.

By mid-October 2011, she became the official donor. Lee and Pam went into surgery together and came out together. They could be seen walking the halls, pulling their IV stands and holding hands. "This is a thousand live donors whose lives have been turned around, and they can again feel like they can contribute to society. That's just fabulous." Pam said.

And with a bright smile, she added, "It'll be a much better Thanksgiving than the last one." "That's for sure," Lee echoed. Anyone can be screened to find out if they are a match for a patient who needs a kidney or a liver. Intermountain Medical Center's transplant team has performed 31 of these so-called "Good Samaritan" surgeries since 2002.

Great American Smokeout

Tomorrow marks the American Cancer Society's 36th annual Great American Smokeout!

Take this time to encourage smokers to make a plan to quit. By doing so, they will be taking an important step toward a healthier life--one that can lead to reducing cancer risk.

Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the U.S., yet more than 46 million Americans still smoke. However, more than half of these smokers have attempted to quit for at least one day in the past year. Quitting is hard, but you can increase your chances of success with help.

The American Cancer Society can tell you about the steps you can take to quit smoking and provide the resources and support that can increase your chances of quitting successfully. To learn about the available tools, call the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or visit the ACS website.

NFT Patient Orlan Holmes on Fort Wayne News

The following article is from FortWayneHomepage.net:

More than 100,000 people across the U.S. are in need of an organ transplant, and one local man is using his story to encourage others to donate. Orlan Holmes is in need of a rare double-lung transplant due to a severe case of COPD.

The operation and aftercare will cost more than $600-thousand, but his insurance will only cover a portion of the costs. On Wednesday, the Sunshine Cafe on Coldwater Road held a benefit for Holmes -- contributing 10-percent of its earnings to his recovery fund. Holmes is also encouraging others to consider becoming organ donors.

To see Orlan's interview with local reporters, visit FortWayneHomepage.net.

November is Diabetes Awareness Month

With nearly 26 million children and adults in America living with diabetes, and another 79 million at high risk for developing type-2 diabetes, the disease is taking a devastating physical, emotional and financial toll on our country. Yet, most Americans don't consider diabetes a serious matter. They feel it is someone else's responsibility, someone else's problem.

Recent numbers by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal just how serious this issue is: 

• Every 17 seconds, someone is diagnosed with diabetes. 

• Diabetes kills more people each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined. 

• Recent estimates project that as many as 1 in 3 American adults will have diabetes in 2050 unless we take steps to stop diabetes.

Visit the American Diabetes Association for more information. 

Chris Klug Enters Ski Hall of Fame

The following article is from the Aspen Daily News:

Chris Klug

 Aspen’s Chris Klug, the three-time Olympian and liver transplant recipient, will be inducted into the Colorado Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame tonight, where he’ll be honored for his groundbreaking career and inspirational life.

“It’s a great honor,” Klug said Thursday. “I’m really excited about it. It’s been fun to reflect on the last 30 years.”
 
Klug said he’s spent time in recent days reminiscing with his mother, Aspen High counselor Kathy Klug, his father, Aspen Square general manager Warren Klug, and his wife, Melissa, about his life on snow.

Some of his fondest memories, he said, are of his days snowboarding in the early ’80s as the sport was emerging, when he duct-taped Moon Boots to a crude Burton board and schlepped to races in his parents’ Wagoneer.

Those early days of the sport led Klug into 20 years of World Cup competition, which concluded last year with his 11th U.S. title. He competed in snowboard racing’s first appearance in the Winter Olympics, in Nagano, Japan, in 1998.

Two years later, he received a lifesaving liver transplant to treat a rare disease with which he’d been diagnosed in the early 1990s.

He returned to racing after his recovery and in 2002, became the first organ transplant recipient ever to compete in the Olympics while also winning a bronze medal.

He founded the Chris Klug Foundation in 2003 to spread awareness and raise money for organ donation, and continues to devote much of his time to the cause. Klug then chronicled his story in the 2004 memoir, “To the Edge and Back.”

Last year, he competed in the Olympics for the third time, in Vancouver.

At tonight’s ceremony, Klug will be joined by his family, including his 6-month-old daughter, Bali, along with his longtime coach, Rob Roy, and teammate Ian Price.

The family of the teenage gunshot victim who gave Klug his new liver, he said, also will be traveling to Colorado from Idaho for the event.

At 38, the freshly-retired Klug is among the youngest athletes the Hall of Fame has inducted.

While he said he plans to attend the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia as a commentator, he’s loath to rule out racing.

“I truly believe if I put my mind to it I could compete at the highest level in Russia,” he said. “But there are so many other things I want to do right now.”

Indeed, though Klug’s not in race training these days he is certainly no slouch. Over the last year, he’s competed in the Aspen area’s toughest endurance and mountaineering events — from the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse, to the summer and winter Power of Four competitions, to the Leadville 100 bike race.

“I’m going to keep challenging myself with these mountaineering adventures,” he said. “So I’m not done yet.”

Since giving up the itinerant schedule of a competitive racer, Klug also has spent much of the last year working on his real estate business in Aspen.

He’s currently planning a new undertaking, through which he wants to raise awareness of organ donation: to summit the highest mountain peaks on each of the world’s seven continents.

“It’s a dream I’ve always had,” he said. “I want to be the first transplant [recipient] to do all of the ‘Seven Summits.’”

This week included the launch party for the sixth annual Summit For Life, a nighttime race up Aspen Mountain and fundraising event for the Klug Foundation, scheduled for Dec. 10. Last year, the event raised $115,000.

November Patient of the Month: Diana Green

Diana and her granddaughters

In May of 2011, doctors discovered a small tumor on Diana Green's liver, and she was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of liver cancer. In only three months, the tumor had quadrupled in size; soon after, she underwent two rounds of a localized form of chemotherapy that cut off the blood supply to the tumor. These procedures were difficult for Diana to endure, and she spent days recovering and regaining her strength after each one. Doctors now say a liver transplant is essential to her survival.

This mother of three and grandmother of two is determined to overcome this health challenge. She loves animals and has a passion for gardening. As the head grower at a local hospital's greenhouse, she is blessed to have a career in something she loves so much. After receiving her diagnosis, she followed her doctor's advice and began following a strict organic diet and eliminating nearly all the chemicals from her home. Diana has cut sugar out of her diet and is doing everything possible to slow down--or even reverse--the cancer that is attacking her body. More than anything, she wants to spend many more years watching her young granddaughters grow up. But she needs your help.

To read more about Diana or to make a donation to NFT to help with her expenses, visit her web page on the NFT site.

October Transplant Birthdays

Happy new birthday to our patients who received lifesaving transplants last month!

• Blake Adams (kidney) at Florida Hospital
• Charlie Giles (heart) at Shands at the University of Florida
• Paul Green (liver) at University of North Carolina Hospital
• Christine Hilton (heart) at Emory Transplant Center
• Joe LaPera (liver) at Hospital of University of Pennsylvania
• Janet McCrary (kidney) at Florida Hospital
• Arlo Tejada (stem cell) at LDS Hospital

The 5th Quarter

We are excited to tell you about an upcoming movie on the GMC Network, which features an incredible story about organ donation. Be sure to tune in or set your DVRs for the amazing story.

The 5th Quarter, starring Aidan Quinn, Andie MacDowell and Ryan Merriman premiers on Sunday, November 14 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. EST. It tells the touching and tragic true story of the Abbate family, as their lives are drastically changed when their son, Luke, a 15-year-old talented linebacker is killed in a reckless driving accident. Devastated, the close-knit family strives to rebuild their lives without him, including making the difficult decision to fulfill his wish to help others by donating his organs to save the lives of five people.

Great Start for NFT Patient and Her Volunteers

When Ruth Culler Frenden's volunteers said they wanted to hit the ground running, they really meant it! They held their first event--a successful garage sale that raised $650--on October 1, and since then they've held two more garage sales, a bunco party and sold 50 NFT cookbooks!

This group is off to a great start, and we're thrilled they're doing so well.

100 Million Registered Organ Donors

Today, we celebrate a great achievement--100 million people are now registered as organ, eye and tissue donors in state donor registries in the United States. The NFT staff is thankful for these generous donors, and you can be one, too.

As we celebrate this milestone, we remember that throughout the nation, more than 112,000 men, women and children await lifesaving or life-enhancing transplants. The only solution is for more people to register as donors in their state donor registries. Each registered donor provides hope to those in need and has the potential of saving or enhancing more than 50 lives.

To register as an organ, eye and tissue donor or to get more information, visit www.donatelife.net.

Successful Garage Sale for NFT Patient

We are so excited for Truitt Taber's fundraising campaign! His dedicated volunteers planned a successful garage sale that raised more than $2,600 in his honor! Although it was a lot of hard work, everyone says it was well worth the effort.

The group collected home decor, books, antiques, furniture, and even sold raffle tickets for an Arkansas Razorbacks quilt and a gift card to Academy Sports & Outdoors.

Next up for the group is a chili supper next month and brainstorming sessions for a spring fling country music fest! Truitt's family, friends and volunteers are doing a great job of planning events early so there's time to make each fundraiser as successful as possible.

Keep Voting for the Redbirds and NFT!

As you may recall, NFT partnered with the Memphis Redbirds for Organ Donor Night at AutoZone Park in August. The team wore organ-themed jerseys, and NFT staff members were on hand to register organ donors.

Now, you have the chance to help Organ Donor Night win the MiLB award for Best Promo of the Year! You helped us win the race for Best Theme Night of the Year, which landed us as a finalist for the overall award, but we still need your help!

Click here to vote! 

Voting ends Thursday, October 20, and you can vote up to 25 times per computer. Please vote to help raise awareness about the importance of organ donation. Spread the word!

Clothing Line for Chemotherapy and Dialysis Patients

We love finding new things that could be useful for our patients! Libre Clothing offers a variety of clothing options with access to the chest, arms and legs for chemotherapy or dialysis treatments. 

The company began after its founders saw how difficult it could be for their family members to find something to wear during routine dialysis and chemo treatments. Patients are often cold during treatments because their legs or arms are exposed for possible hours at a time. 

A portion of sales is donated to charities who aid the kidney and cancer communities.

Below are some testimonials from Libre Clothing customers:

"I wanted to let you know that I really enjoy my two sweaters I bought for dialysis. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I make sure I don't leave home without one of them! I even have other dialysis patients ask me if I made it myself or where I got it.” - Julia H., Patient, Michigan

“Love your company! This clothing idea is great. In addition to keeping the patients warm this provides safety. Dialysis patients should keep their access in view so caregivers can observe for bleeding or needle dislodgement. This will be a win for all.” - Dottie, RN, Dialysis

"I recently purchased a Stephen shirt for my father. I like that you carry products for specific need, it shows you care and think about the difficulties patients and their families go through. The clothing has really helped my dad stay warm and be more comfortable.  I have had many people take interest since they've seen his.” – Cindy L., Daughter of Dialysis Patient, Hilliard, PA

For more information visit www.LibreClothing.com.

October Patient of the Month: Ralph Guy

In 2003, Ralph was diagnosed with chronic lymphoma leukemia. He began treatment in 2007, and his cancer was in remission by the following year. Sadly, the disease returned last year, and doctors say a stem cell transplant is critical to his survival. Ralph's family knows the devastating effects of cancer all too well, as two of his siblings are also afflicted by forms of leukemia. Some of Ralph's siblings are currently being tested to see if they could be a donor match for his lifesaving transplant.

His three adult daughters and young granddaughter can't help but worry about his health, and he looks forward to returning to his old self so he can spend many more years with his family. This Vietnam veteran loves to cook, travel and fish when his health allows, and he is proud to have worked for the U.S. Federal Government for more than 40 years. He is determined to overcome this health battle and enjoy his retirement years. But he needs your help.

To learn more about Ralph or to make a donation to NFT in his honor, please visit his web bio on the NFT site.

September Transplant Birthdays

Happy new birthday to our patients who received lifesaving transplants last month! We're so excited and wish them all a speedy recovery.

• Carol Bordeaux (kidney) at Duke University Medical Center
• Cindy Flynn (islet cell) at University of Minnesota Medical Center
• Sherlean Hatchett (stem cell) at Froedtert Hospital
• Larry Joiner (liver) at Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute
• Frank Maldonado (kidney) at Loma Linda University Medical Center
• Gloria Sasser (liver) Tampa General Hospital
• Butch Webb (liver) University of North Carolina Hospital
• Marika Woltil (kidney) Loma Linda University Medical Center
• Natalie Zamora (lung) at Duke University Medical Center

Top 5 Most Important Kidney Health Numbers

From the National Kidney Foundation's website:

If you've gone for your annual physical recently, you're staring at a report that may as well have been written in a foreign language. Which numbers are especially important in predicting kidney health—and what's in the normal range?

1. Estimated GFR number --Measures kidney function, over 60 is normal, under 60, talk to your doctor. GFR, or glomerular filtration rate, tells you how well your kidneys are doing their job of filtering the blood. 
2. Blood Pressure Reading --High blood pressure leads to kidney disease. Normal blood pressure is 120/80. If the upper number is over 140 and the lower number is above 90, your blood pressure is too high.
   
3. Albumin to Creatinine Ratio --Estimates the amount of protein found in your urine in a day. Protein in the urine is one of the earliest signs of kidney disease. Less than 30 is normal, over 30, talk to your doctor.
   
4. Total Cholesterol --Over 200, you may be at risk for heart disease.
   
5. Blood Glucose Check --Checks for diabetes, the leading cause of kidney failure. While fasting: over 125 and after eating: over 200 indicates diabetes.

Vote for Organ Donor Night in the 2011 MiLB Awards!

Last month, NFT partnered with the Memphis Redbirds for Organ Donor Night at AutoZone Park! The team wore organ-themed jerseys, and NFT staff members were on hand to register organ donors. It was a great evening, complete with a fireworks show after the game!

Now, you have the chance to help Organ Donor Night win the MiLB award in the Best Theme Night Category. Voting ends Thursday, October 13, and you can vote up to 25 times a day. Please vote every day to help raise awareness about the importance of organ donation.

Click here to vote!

September is Leukemia, Lymphoma & Myeloma Awareness Month

From the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society website:

Remarkable progress has been made in treating patients with blood cancers, with survival rates for many having doubled or tripled, and in some cases quadrupled, since The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) was founded in 1949.

"I have personally seen the progress in cure rates and treatments from when I experienced leukemia in 1994," says survivor Nikki Henshaw. "These changes have dramatically improved the quality of life for those who are battling cancer."

Survival rates for children with acute lymphocytic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer, have risen over the past 40 years from 3% to approximately 90% today; Hodgkin lymphoma patient survival rates have doubled to 86% since the 1960s, and the five-year survival rate has increased from 25% in the mid-seventies to 41% for all myeloma patients, and patients diagnosed in the last decade had a 50% improvement in overall survival.

Yet, more than 1 million North Americans are fighting blood cancers, the third leading cause of cancer death. Every four minutes someone in North America is diagnosed with a blood a cancer, and every ten minutes someone dies.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is a beacon of help and guidance to those touched by blood cancer and each September LLS observes Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma Awareness Month, to shed light on these diseases and let the public know that there are resources available for blood cancer patients and their families.

"Awareness Month is an opportunity to increase the public's understanding of blood cancers and encourage people to support the funding of research to find cures and education programs to help patients have the best possible outcomes throughout their cancer experience," said LLS President and CEO John Walter.

For more information, visit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's website.

OSU Medical Center Accomplishes 6-Way Kidney Transplant

A synchronized chain of six kidney transplants resulted in an ideal match for three women and three men at The Ohio State University Medical Center last week. The swap of kidneys between the 12 patients required two days to complete and more than two months to orchestrate. The six-way, single-institution transplant is the first and largest to date in Ohio and one of only a handful that have taken place in the United States.

The chain of transplants began with an altruistic donor who stepped forward to donate a kidney to a recipient who was a part of one of the incompatible pairs. That recipient’s intended donor then provided a kidney to the recipient in the second pair and the swaps continued through to the sixth recipient. The sixth recipient did not have an intended donor and had been waiting for a cadaveric kidney to become available.

Multiple transplants, such as a six-way transplant, are uncommon due to the logistics involved in screening pairs of incompatible donors and recipients in hopes of finding matches that can benefit each person. However, when there is success in the matching process, the manner in which the donors fall into alignment with compatible recipients in succession gives the procedures the nickname of domino transplants.

Transplant surgeon Ronald Pelletier, who led the series of transplants, says Ohio State University Medical Center and other transplant centers around the country constantly look for ways to maximize the limited pool of donors.

“We have many more people on the waiting lists for organ transplants than we have people willing to donate,” said Pelletier. “Frequently we face issues of incompatibility between candidates and potential donors where tissue and antigens aren’t necessarily the correct match and a transplant would not be safe.” Pelletier said this series of transplants took months to pull together.

“We’ve performed smaller ‘swaps’ in the past, but there is real satisfaction in pulling together six transplants that initially seemed like they would never occur.”

The Medical Center’s efforts to arrange the six-way transplant began in a laboratory where the tedious task to match the donors with potential recipients was conducted. Nicholas DiPaola, assistant director of the histocompatibility lab at Ohio State, says searching the donor and candidate lists to create a chain of compatible donors and recipients takes time and patience.

“We have computer software that is designed exclusively for this purpose, but double-checking and communicating to the patients and donors about the options of a 6-way donation took some time.” The recipients of the six-way transplant initially did not know the identity of their actual donors and the donors did not know to whom their kidney was transplanted, but that changed Thursday when the patients had the opportunity to be united with their match.

“This extraordinary effort by staff at our Medical Center demonstrates the power of the altruistic donor selflessness and the collective good of organ donation and transplantation," added Dr. Robert Higgins, director of Ohio State’s Comprehensive Transplant Center. For nearly four decades, the OSU Comprehensive Transplant Center has been a national leader in the field of transplantation.

Ohio State performs kidney, liver, kidney/pancreas, pancreas and heart transplants. Approximately 100 medical professionals including doctors, nurses and support personnel took part in the 12 surgeries that lasted an average of 2-3 hours each. Surgeons assisting Pelletier were Drs. Ginny Bumgardner, Elmahdi Elkhammas, Amer Rajab and Mitchell Henry, chief of the division of transplantation.

From Media-Newswire.com.

NFT Patient in Florida Awaiting Lifesaving Kidney Transplant

September Patient of the Month: Ashley Dias

In 1985, Ashley Dias was born with cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease that also afflicts her older sister. In 2001 during her freshmen year of high school, her lungs began failing, and she underwent a double-lung transplant. Thankfully, the surgery went well, but due to complications, she became diabetic. During her freshmen year of college, she began to feel very ill and knew something wasn't right. Her instincts were right, and as a result of CF and anti-rejection medicines, her kidneys started failing, and she was in a dire need of a kidney transplant. Thankfully, in 2005, she was granted that opportunity and the operation was successful.

She is extremely grateful that the prior surgeries have allowed her to live these 10 extra years, and without them that wouldn't have been possible. Sadly her new lungs are now experiencing rejection. Doctors say yet another double-lung transplant is critical for her to survive.

Despite these challenges, Ashley has been able to live a relatively normal life. After her first transplant she was able to participate in activities she never imagined throughout high school, such as joining her school's gymnastics team, getting her driver's license and graduating. In college, she was a cheerleader and active in a sorority. After graduating from college, she found a job she loved with a great company, but she had to stop working when her health began to decline. Ashley has an amazing support system behind her at all times, keeping her continuously determined to overcome her health battles once again.

To learn more about Ashley or to make a donation in her honor, visit her web bio on the NFT site.

August Transplant Birthdays

We are thrilled for our patients who received lifesaving transplants last month!

• Bradley Bryant (heart) at University of Mississippi Medical Center
• Karen Darling-Duleck (kidney) at Emory Transplant Center
• Matt Graumann (liver) at Integris Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute
• Maureen Gullickson (stem cell) at Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center
• Samantha Rick (lung) at UCSF Medical Center
• Scott Robinson (pancreas) at University of Chicago Medical Center
• Allen Sharpe (lung) at Duke University Medical Center
• Stan Skiver (lung) at Integris Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute
• Cindy Thomas (bone marrow) at Stanford Hospital

Ice Cream Social a Great Success!

Friends, family and supporters of Gary Neltner had a great time at a recent ice cream social in his honor!

Many church friends were there to support his fundraising campaign, as well as several emergency medical services (EMS) workers. Gary loved his job as a paramedic and hopes he can return after receiving his transplant.

Gary's volunteers worked hard to plan this event, and it raised $1,500 for his fundraising campaign! 

Looks like everyone had a blast!

FSU Football Players Take Part in Bone Marrow Drive

The following article is from WCTV News in Tallahassee, FL.

A few weeks ago, Jimbo Fisher and his wife Candi asked that everyone sign up to be bone marrow donors. Friday his players signed up.

The Florida State Football team kick off the 2011 football season in 8 days, but they have a bigger battle to fight.

Bert Reed is a wide receiver for the Seminoles. He said,"When you talk about family, and being able to help somebody that's in need. It always puts things in perspective for me."

Coach Fisher's son, Ethan, has Fanconi anemia, and will need a bone marrow transplant. Friday morning the football team swabbed their cheeks to see if they are a match.

For every 38,000 people tested, one could be the match. They say if they aren't a match for Ethan, they can still help someone.

"Whatever we can do to help Coach Fisher, and help some other people out that would need a transplant. We'll do that," said Quarterback EJ Manuel.

The players said filling out the form is the hardest part of seeing if they can be a match. If they do match up, they say if they can take a hit, surely they can give some bone marrow.

The process is not as painful as it used to be. Now they can do it like you would to give blood, and if they do it on your hip, you are put to sleep.

Shawn Powell, FSU Punter, said, "It doesn't really matter what the procedure is, because we know the long term goal of the process."

More than 100 people signed up to give back, hoping to do their part to help the more than 10,000 people who need a transplant.

In addition to Friday's drive , the school has events planned for both home games against Miami on November 12, and Virginia on November 19.

Atlanta Falcons' Stephen Nicholas Counting His Blessings

The following article is from The Florida Times-Union:

Stephen Nicholas' life is filled with blessings these days.

The Atlanta linebacker, who will be playing in his hometown when his Atlanta Falcons play the Jaguars Friday night, has a starting job and a new five-year, $17.5 million deal he signed when the lockout ended.

A fourth-round pick out of South Florida in 2007 and the sixth brother in a family of eight boys, the former Robert E. Lee High School standout has started 25 games over the past two years and played in 65 games in his career. One of his brothers, Ivan, is a safety at Ole Miss.

But the best thing in Stephen's life now is watching his 3-year-old son running around like a typical toddler.

Stephen Nicholas Jr. was born on Jan. 6, 2008, and it quickly became apparent he was suffering from some type of illness. He didn't eat much and slept all the time.

"Holding him in my arms, I knew he wasn't functioning like a regular little baby," said Stephen's father Lebon Nicholas, a bishop at Victory Tabernacle Church in Jacksonville.

Doctors determined that Stephen Jr. had a heart problem, and he was airlifted to Atlanta with the help of Stephanie Blank, the wife of Falcons owner Arthur Blank, who is on the board of Children's Hospital in Atlanta.

The diagnosis was that Stephen Jr. had cardiomyopathy, a condition that keeps the heart from being able to pump blood throughout the body. The only solution was a heart transplant.

The baby and Nicholas' wife, Irene, went to Children's Hospital in Boston to wait and see if a heart transplant would become available. Meanwhile, Stephen Nicholas went to training camp.

"There was a lot of prayer, man," Nicholas said. "My wife was very strong during the situation and held it down while I was practicing two-a-days. It was very tough, a hard time."

His father said he even called on affiliated churches to join in the prayers.

"We did a lot of praying, asking God to help us," Lebon Nicholas said.

Mike Smith, the former Jaguars defensive coordinator who was in his first season as the Falcons' coach, allowed Nicholas to fly to Boston each Sunday night after the Falcons played. He didn't have to return until Wednesday in time for practice.

"We were very cognizant of what was going on and we wanted to make sure he was able to get to Boston as often as possible," Smith said to ESPN.com. "We wanted him to be with his wife and baby because this was a very trying situation."

They also had to deal with the stark reality that the only way their baby would be saved would be for another family to go through the tragedy of losing theirs.

"It broke my heart to know that if he got a heart, another baby had to die. That thought went through my mind all the time," Lebon Nicholas said. "I don't know who it was and how it came about, but I still pray to heal the wounds that were inflicted there."

Their baby underwent the heart transplant on Oct. 17, 2008. The Nicholas' have since had a second child, Sarai, who will be two in October, and she's healthy.

To read the full article, visit Jacksonville.com.

Successful Auction Raises More Than $12,000!

Friends and family of Michelle Barnes, who recently received a kidney transplant, planned an auction to assist with Michelle's medical expenses. Everyone had a great time, and the event was a huge success!

Miss Minnesota not only sold tickets, but also attended the event to lend her support. Some of the big ticket auction items included an iPad2 and a diamond necklace, which Mrs. Minnesota wore during the event. Even some of the Vikings cheerleaders came to cheer on the crowd while they bid on items such as Twins/Yankees tickets and a vacation getaway! It was a great night and brought in more than $12,000 in honor of Michelle's fundraising campaign!