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Two hard-to-match transplant sufferers 250 miles aside began the yr of 2024 with shining new hope for lengthy, wholesome lives — due to the collaboration of two Texas hospitals.
UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Solid Organ Transplant Program in Dallas, Texas, and University Health Transplant Institute in San Antonio labored collectively to seek out suitable residing kidney donors for his or her failing sufferers.
In Dallas, Jorge Mendez, 50, an automotive store foreman, was in want of a life-saving transplant.
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Mendez was on dialysis — which has a big influence on not solely an individual’s high quality of life every day, but in addition long-term well being.
It was vital for him to discover a transplant earlier than he grew to become too sick for the process, in response to his physician.
Rebecca Warden, second from left, volunteered to present a kidney to her mom, 71-year-old Ann Winer of San Antonio, far left. And Svetlana Balmeo Stockdale, 28 (far proper), volunteered to present a kidney to her co-worker, Jorge Mendez, 50, standing beside her. (University Health/UT Southwestern)
Mendez’s coworker, Svetlana Balmeo Stockdale, 28, supplied to donate a kidney to her pal — however sadly she was not a match.
Meanwhile, 250 miles away in San Antonio, 71-year-old Ann Winer was additionally in dire want of a kidney transplant.
She was on dialysis after ready nearly two years for a kidney donor.
Winer’s largest impediment was that she had uncommon antibodies that made it very tough for her to match with a donor, her docs mentioned.
“A patient’s access to a lifesaving transplant shouldn’t be limited by geographic or organizational boundaries.”
Winer’s daughter, Rebecca Warden, wished to donate a kidney — however it was not a suitable match.
“Winer would likely have become weaker over time and her condition would have grown worse,” Parsia Vagefi, M.D., the transplant surgeon at UT Southwestern who led the surgical workforce in Dallas, advised Fox News Digital.
“She said she had almost given up hope of receiving a transplant.”
Rebecca Warden, left, volunteered to present a kidney to her mom, 71-year-old Ann Winer of San Antonio, proper. Warden was not a match, although, so Winer’s medical workforce in San Antonio collaborated with one other workforce in Dallas to discover a donor swap for his or her respective sufferers. (University Health)
The leaders at each establishments started working collectively to seek out matches exterior their native transplant networks.
After studying that she wasn’t a match for her pal, Stockdale — the meant donor for Mendez — bought a stunning telephone name.
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“A short while after I used to be advised my kidney wasn’t a match, UT Southwestern known as me they usually mentioned, ‘You couldn’t donate to Jorge, but we could do a swap with somebody else,'” she said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
As it turned out, Stockdale was a match for Winer, the grandmother in San Diego — and Warden, who had intended to donate to her mother, was a match for Mendez.
Setting the stunning plan into motion
The medical teams in Dallas and San Antonio began plans for a donor swap for their respective patients.
“[After finding the matches], we began discussing, ‘When would we start the surgeries? How would we transport the organs? How would the organs be tracked?’” mentioned Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, transplant surgeon with University Health who led the transplant workforce in San Antonio, in a remark despatched to Fox News Digital.
Jorge Mendez, 50, left, obtained a substitute for his failing kidney after medical groups in San Antonio and Dallas searched past their very own networks for suitable residing donors for his or her sufferers. Shown at proper with him and carrying an identical yellow robe, Svetlana Balmeo Stockdale, 28, walks with Mendez after the two underwent surgical procedure at UT Southwestern in Dallas. (UT Southwestern)
Through “fastidiously choreographed surgical schedules and chartered flights,” the transplant groups ensured that the donated organs can be safely transported and transplanted as rapidly as potential, in response to a press release from the hospitals.
“[The transport] could be tracked minute by minute in the plane via a tag that was on the box that was used to transport [the kidneys],” Thomas mentioned.
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“It is important because we want to keep the time that the organ is out of the body without blood to a minimum.”
On Aug. 31, 2023, after a day of “superbly timed surgeries and close coordination,” in response to the hospitals, Winer and Mendez obtained the brand new, functioning kidneys they wanted to save lots of their lives.
On Aug. 31, 2023, after a day of “superbly timed surgeries and close coordination,” in response to the hospitals, Winer and Mendez obtained the brand new, functioning kidneys they wanted to save lots of their lives. (UT Southwestern/University Health)
“There are various ways you can do the swaps and various reasons to do them … It never gets old,” Dr. Vagefi advised Fox News Digital.
Only 1 / 4 of the transplants carried out at UT Southwestern are from residing donors, however Vagefi mentioned he’s hoping to broaden that quantity, as residing kidney donations last more for the recipients.
“It’s really great to participate in it and form a collaboration with others who are working toward the same mission but in a different city,” he mentioned. “We crossed geographic boundaries to help these families.”
Grateful for brand new hope
Because of the life-saving transplant, Mendez was capable of maintain his new granddaughter when the newborn was born in January.
“It brought tears to my eyes to hold her,” he mentioned in a press release. “Now I can live a little bit longer to spend time with her.”
He later wrote to his donor: “Thank you very much. I owe you the world.”
“I don’t think of it as me saving somebody’s life — I think of it as me giving Jorge’s family members more time with him.”
“I felt like they’d never find a donor for me, but they did,” Winer mentioned.
On a card she despatched to her Dallas donor, she wrote: “I will never be able to repay you.”
Stockdale, who had meant to donate to her pal Mendez, shared what being a donor means to her in a press release to Fox News Digital.
“I don’t think of it as me saving somebody’s life,” she said. “I think of it as me giving Jorge’s family members more time with him.”
“[For Winer], whatever she hasn’t accomplished in life yet that she ultimately wanted to do, I hope she gets to do it. Life’s too short to not live out your wildest dreams.”
Winer, the retired nurse anesthesiologist, later wrote a letter to Stockdale thanking her for the kidney.
Through “carefully choreographed surgical schedules and chartered flights,” the transplant teams ensured that the donated organs would be safely transported and transplanted as quickly as possible, according to the hospitals. (UT Southwestern/University Health)
“Thank you for giving me back my life,” she wrote.
“I thought I would never get a transplant with my weird antibodies, and then you came along. Bless you.”
Warden — Winer’s daughter who had meant to donate to her mom however agreed to donate to Mendez in change for her mom receiving a transplant — additionally expressed her gratitude.
Parsia Vagefi, M.D., is the transplant surgeon at UT Southwestern who led the surgical workforce in Dallas. (UT Southwestern)
“At the end of the day, I’m happy that I’ve been able to help two people and not just one,” she mentioned in a press release.
Today, each transplant recipients are doing nicely.
Winer is again at work part-time as a nurse anesthesiologist and is planning to retire on the finish of July.
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Mendez has additionally returned to work. “I feel great,” he mentioned.
Scott Bennett, affiliate vp of the Solid Organ Transplant Program at UT Southwestern, mentioned in a press launch that “a patient’s access to a lifesaving transplant shouldn’t be limited by geographic or organizational boundaries.”
Dr. Parsia Vagefi of UT Southwestern led the surgical workforce in Dallas that collaborated with University Health in San Antonio to save lots of two sufferers with failing kidneys. (UT Southwestern)
“It was rewarding to see the collective can-do spirit of two highly regarded programs collaborate to make it happen,” he added.
A kidney is the organ in the best demand for transplant.
A wholesome particular person can stay a full life after donating one among their two kidneys, in response to specialists.
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The common life expectancy for somebody on dialysis is 5 to 10 years, in response to the National Kidney Foundation.
For extra Health articles, go to www.foxnews.com/well being.
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