Giving thanks: Transplant from stranger changes a life

[Clark]

http://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2014/11/26/strangers-kidney-donation-changes-life/19548357/

Giving thanks: Transplant from stranger changes a life
 By Kristen Jordan Shamus

Chance led Heather Fischer to Kaitlin Frank, and that lucky encounter changed — and potentially saved — Frank's life.

This Thanksgiving, the unlikely pair is celebrating not only shared good health, but a friendship kindled by the selflessness of a stranger.

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The stranger was Fischer, 39, of Chesterfield Township, who just happened to walk back to her desk from the bathroom at work — Fifth-Third Bank in Marine City — when she overheard colleagues talking about a young woman who needed a kidney transplant.

Fischer didn't know Frank but asked whether there was something she could do to help. Later that day, she called the girl's mother, Cindy Frank, a customer service representative at the Fifth-Third Bank branch in Fair Haven she'd met before, but didn't know.

"I said, 'I'd like to know what the process is' " of becoming a living kidney donor," Fischer said. "Both of them stopped over, and brought the paperwork. And right there, I was able to call the Red Cross and verify my blood type. We just moved forward from there."

Fischer's call was a shock to Cindy Frank.

"You know, when she called and told me that, my brother had just passed away and I was on my way to his funeral," Cindy said. "I dropped off forms and the phone number, and I said, 'I know nothing about it, but here's the number to call.' I wasn't thinking clearly at that point, and I wasn't sure if she was serious."

The best people ever

It is unusual for strangers to donate organs to others in need, but it is always welcome, said Dr. Alan Leichtman, a nephrologist at the University of Michigan Health System.

"Although Heather didn't know the other person, in this case she made a direct donation," Leichtman said. "There are people like Heather who decide to donate who don't have a relationship with anyone on the waiting list. Those people are usually referred to as nondirected donors.

"It's not tremendously common. But my guesstimate is that it's on the order of 100-200 a year, nationally. Here, it's a handful — two to five a year in the state of Michigan."
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"Most people with organ failure are just like us, except something bad happened to them," said Leichtman. "The patients I take care of ... are the most wonderful, motivated people in the world. They know that to have their transplant work, they have to be at their best.

"If you were to come to my clinic, you would see people who know what they're doing. They know their meds, they take care of themselves, they get their labs drawn. They're good stewards of the gift. And, you know, they're really grateful for the gift because their health was taken from them, and then restored. ... Most of them have good outcomes and live for years and years and years.

"I have the joy of following them and their kids and seeing them get married and have grandkids and all that stuff. And so, the importance of the gift, not only do you restore health, but you restore normalcy, and, by and large, you're donating to the best people ever."

Somehow, some way, everything clicked for Fischer and Kaitlin Frank. They have the same A-positive blood type, and tests showed that the two were compatible. Doctors were confident a transplant would work.

"They had to make sure I was a healthy person, and take different steps in there to make sure my levels were all right to donate a kidney, too," Fischer said. "We went step-by-step and in perfect order, and it went pretty quickly. Most people don't get the chance to have it work like that.

"It's rare to find a perfect match. We were matching, but it wasn't a complete 100%. With technology today, they don't need it to be a 100% match anymore."

So on May 16 — nine days before Kaitlin Frank's 21st birthday — the women were admitted to the University of Michigan Health System, where doctors removed one of Fischer's healthy kidneys and transplanted it into Frank.

Four weeks later, Frank was back to work as a hostess at Bobby Mac's Bayside in Fair Haven. Recovery took a little longer for Fischer, who was back to work in six weeks at the bank.

"I'm very thankful," Frank said. "Heather is probably the person I'm most thankful for — and my mom. My mom was my biggest support system through this whole entire thing."

"I feel wonderful now. Heather is definitely the best person in my life. We are like best friends. We have a connection that no one else does. We joke around. I tell her your kidney is 21 now. It's not 39, it's actually 21," she said, laughing.

This Thanksgiving, the families of Kaitlin Frank and Heather Fischer plan to come together for pumpkin pie a few days after the holiday as a way to give thanks for their special bond.

Fischer means "the world" to them, Cindy Frank said. "We wouldn't be where we are today without her.

"She and Heather have a very, very close relationship," she said. "They do things together, they're always texting, always talking. It's like she got another big sister" along with a new kidney.

Cindy Frank asked that others consider one very important gift thing this holiday season: the gift of life.

"I really firmly believe everyone should sign up for organ donation," she said. "Not everybody can be a live donor like Heather, but when you're deceased, you can go on and save a life."

Facts about living organ donation

Dr. Alan Leichtman, a nephrologist at the University of Michigan Health System, shares these facts about becoming a living donor:

■Practically any healthy person can donate a kidney, liver or bone marrow.

■Insurance or the transplant center will cover the full cost to the donor. It shouldn't cost any donor anything at all to give.

■Nationally, 34% of kidney transplants are from living organ donors.

■"Anytime there's a surgery, obviously there's a risk of something going bad during the surgery. The number is 1 in 1,800 deaths associated with being a living donor."

■That said, Leichtman notes that, on average, kidney donors are healthier than other Americans. For that reason, he said, research shows "the risk of having a kidney problem down the line for donors is about one-third of that of the general population. There's nothing about donating that raises your risk to even average."

How to become a living donor

If you're interested in being a living kidney donor, like Heather Fischer, call one of Michigan's Kidney Transplant Centers and ask about how to get the process started. Here is a list of the centers in the state and how to contact them:

Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit: www.childrensdmc.org/pediatric-nephrology; 313-745-5481

Harper University Hospital, DMC, Detroit: www.harperhutzel.org/transplant; 313-745-8040

Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit: www.henryford.com/transplant; 313-916-2600

Helen Devos Children's Hospital, Grand Rapids: www.helendevoschildrens.org/pediatrickidneytransplant, 866-989-7999

Mercy Health St. Mary's, Grand Rapids: www.stmarysofmichigan.org, 616-685-5000

St. John Hospital and Medical Center, Detroit: www.stjohnprovidence.org/transplant, 313-343-3047

University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor: www.michigantransplant.org/kidney, 734-936-4000

William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak: www.beaumont.edu/transplantation-kidney, 248-898-5000

Other ways to donate

Even if you'd rather not become a living organ donor, you can still help save the lives of others by:

■Signing up for the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. You can sign up through the Michigan Secretary of State's website, https://services.sos.state.mi.us/OrganDonor/Pages/registry.aspx, or through Gift of Life Michigan, http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org/become-donor. After you register, talk to your loved ones about your wishes after death, and tell them you'd like to donate your organs. For details, call 866-500-5801.

■Donating blood. You can find out about upcoming blood drives in metro Detroit and learn more by going to http://www.redcross.org/mi/detroit or by calling 800-733-2767.

■Donating bone marrow. Learn more through http://bethematch.org/.

Party for a cause

The National Kidney Foundation of Michigan's 10th annual Kidney Ball is planned for 6 p.m. Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand Detroit. The black-tie fund-raiser is to include music, cocktails food and more to benefit the programs and services it provides to the more than 900,000 Michiganders with kidney disease.

Special guests this year include former Detroit Lion Lomas Brown and former Detroit Red Wing Joe Kocur, among others.

Tickets are $250 and can be purchased online at www.nkfm.org/events or by calling 800-482-1455.