Kidney Donors, Recipients Meet For First Time
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Six people who recently gave six others the gift of life, through kidney transplants at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Wednesday met the donors who made it possible.
It was a case in which none of the potential donors matched the potential recipients. By the time they found matches, a dozen people were involved.
It fell into place because of Jim Wielgos, a 59-year-old man whose sister needed a kidney transplant 10 years ago. Wielgos said he's been in good health his entire life and wanted to "pay it forward," but was not a match. He said he decided to wait until he was fairly certain that none of his daughters would need a transplant, and then donate one of his to someone in need. That occurred last month.
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Northwestern surgeon Dr. John Friewald said the hospital can check to see if there is compatibility among other mis-matched donors and recipients, allowing the hospital to "swap" donors. Normally, only two or three couples participate in the swap, but thanks to Wielgos, six patients received donor kidneys.
"I'm just happy you're doing well," he said to Laura Seger, whose kidney transplant was her second; her sister donated the first kidney 23 years ago.
"I cannot thank you enough," she told Wielgos.
Another woman, Cheryl Rosen, said she knew going in that she would not be donating her kidney to her adoptive mother because of a difference in blood types, but said the fact that she would help two people made her even more determined to donate. The man who received her kidney, David Zepeda, said the past year on dialysis, while awaiting a transplant, had been "terrible."
Friewald said the surgeries occurred Jan. 20 and 21, and said that all of the donors were back to work within a few days. The recipients are progressing at different rates, but he said all appear to be successful. Each of the recipients will have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives.
