Organ transplant between friends inspires new Maryland legislation

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https://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=143922

Organ transplant between friends inspires new Maryland legislation
By Bethany Rodgers

A strange feeling of deja vu stole over minister LaVerne Gill a few months ago as she preached at a church she was visiting for the first time.
Maybe, she joked to the Bethesda congregation, it was because her kidney had been there before.

Gill's kidney first belonged to her friend Pat Hanberry, a Frederick resident who once attended the church. But after Hanberry learned Gill was experiencing renal failure and was facing the prospect of long-term dependence on dialysis, she decided to give the organ to her friend.

Though the two women have found myriad ways to joke about their "kidney connection," Gill said a deep gratefulness lies behind her laughter.

"I think this was a miracle," Gill said of receiving Hanberry's donation. "It was a jolt of life."

Now, state legislation promoting organ donation will bear Hanberry's name. Maryland Sen. Ron Young recently announced that he is proposing statewide changes so that getting a driver's license comes with a presumed consent to organ donation. Those who do not want to be organ donors would have the opportunity to opt out.

This change would reverse the current process, which requires people to opt in as a willing donor.

Young hopes the adjustment would increase the number of potential donors; now, only about 46 percent of those who get state driver's licenses or identifications sign up to be a donor. More than 2,000 state residents are waiting for an organ transplant, according to the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland.

"There is a tremendous need for organs. There are people dying every day for lack of one," Young said.

He said he believes many people simply overlook the organ donation option, though they wouldn't be opposed to joining the program. Changing the law would bring these people on board while still allowing those with objections to opt out.

If more people join the state's donation program, Young hopes there will be less need for living organ donors like Hanberry.

Bill Ruehl, a member of the Frederick Rotary Club, along with Young and Hanberry, got the ball rolling on the legislation, which the senator plans to introduce during the 2013 session of the Maryland General Assembly. Delegates Patrick Hogan and Galen Clagett, who represent Frederick County and are also Rotarians, have agreed to sponsor the same bill in the House of Delegates.

Ruehl said he began thinking about the issue after hearing Hanberry's story.

Hanberry said she met Gill, of Reston, Va., while the two worked together at a nonprofit summer program in New York. In 2010, Gill announced that she couldn't continue in her role as a chaplain administrator at the program because she was facing renal failure and would soon either need dialysis or a new kidney.

Gill remembers explaining the situation to Hanberry's husband, who was visiting the Chautauqua Institution summer program with his wife.

"Pat was playing the piano in the chapel, and she said, 'If you need a kidney, you can have one of mine,'" Gill said. "I said, 'Pat, I don't think it works like that.'"

Gill was taken aback by Hanberry's swift response, but her friend insisted she was serious about donating. Hanberry promptly filled out the paperwork to get the ball rolling for a procedure, and the friends faxed in the documents and toasted each other with glasses of water.

The surgery happened the following Thanksgiving, Hanberry said.

The two women recovered in the same hospital, and Hanberry was able to walk across the hallway, pulling her IV drip along, to visit Gill as they recovered together.

Gill said the new kidney from a friend brought back her energy and color.

It's difficult to convey the significance of organ donation to those who have never needed a transplant, she said.

"I don't think they realize how much of a gift it is. They can't even imagine," Gill said.