Brian's Story
Kidney Disease/Transplant
Transplant
His kidneys were failing.
His daughter gave him one of hers.
Now another patient also has a chance.
Brian's Story
For 25 years, Brian, a 49-year-old husband and father of two daughters, struggled with chronic kidney disease. By late 2008, Brian’s disease had progressed to the point that his kidneys were failing. He needed to consider a kidney transplant.
Brian asked around — including a former coworker who had received a kidney transplant at Rush University Medical Center — to find out which hospital he should choose for his transplant. From everyone he talked to, he heard the same answer: Go to Rush. But Brian says what really swayed him to choose Rush was the personalized attention that he and his family received right away.
On his first visit to the Kidney Transplant Program at Rush, Brian met with the care team, including transplant surgeon Edward Hollinger, MD, PhD, to discuss his options. After his initial assessment, Brian completed a thorough medical evaluation and was added to the cadaveric (deceased donor) kidney transplant list in December 2008. He did not need dialysis yet, but he would soon.
The transplant team also discussed with Brian whether he could find a living kidney donor. The advantages to receiving a kidney from a living donor are great. The kidney is high quality and the wait time is significantly shorter — down from as long as five years on the national transplant list to a matter of months.
Before Brian even had a chance to mention the idea of living kidney donation to his two daughters, Katie and Kristina, they saw the health questionnaires he’d brought home from his initial assessment on the kitchen counter, and each filled one out right away. That was Christmas Day.
The transplant team at Rush, including Richard Reyes, BSN, BA, RN, living kidney donor coordinator, began evaluating Katie and Kristina to see who would be a better match. Both were determined to be good matches. The team decided that whichever daughter’s workup was finished first would be the donor since Brian’s condition was rapidly deteriorating.
Kidney Donation and Transplant
For several months, both daughters were extensively evaluated to ensure they could handle both the donation operation and living with only one kidney. When delays came up related to Katie’s health, the focus shifted to Kristina. In early March, Kristina was called in to the clinic for one last round of urine tests. The results came back normal. Kristina was cleared for surgery.
Two days later, on March 12, the transplant team, led by Hollinger, performed a minimally invasive laparoscopic donor nephrectomy on Kristina to remove one of her kidneys. They then transplanted the kidney into Brian, who had been scheduled to start dialysis that same week.
After the surgery, Brian was taken to the intensive care unit to recover. He clearly remembers waking up the next morning and telling the nurses, “I feel like a million bucks.” His new kidney had started functioning well immediately. A mere 12 hours after the surgery, it had already cleared about half of the toxins that had accumulated in his system.
Kristina’s donor surgery was minimally invasive — with only a small midline incision made to remove the kidney, rather than a larger incision under the ribs. Since the midline incision is less painful, it allows a more rapid return to daily activities. She was discharged from the hospital two days after her surgery. After a week of recovering at home, she returned to school and to her normal routine.
The entire transplant team was involved in Brian’s care after the transplant, including a dedicated transplant physician assistant, Debra DiMartino, PA-C. And with the help of Husai Kelliher, BSN, RN, posttransplant kidney coordinator, Brian left the hospital knowing how best to maintain his health after his organ transplant. Brian returned to his work as a real estate developer about a month later and, within a few weeks, was back to flying around the country to work on various projects.
Brian's Story
