Kidney Transplant So Far, So Good

Doctors say an Internet-arranged kidney transplant from an Ohio donor to a Colorado recipient was successful Wednesday and both women are recovering.

Dr. Angie Carranza, 37, a physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, received a kidney from Ohio schoolteacher Sandy Miller and the organ is functioning, according to officials at Porter Adventist Hospital.

Miller hopes to return to normal life after about six weeks of recovery time. Miller's daughter, Carrie, flew to Denver to be with her mother while the surgery took place.

"On a scale of one to 10, she said the pain was a seven," Carrie Miller, the donor's daughter, said after the surgery. "But she said it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, and she's glad she did it."

"I'm very proud of her, it's difficult," Carrie Miller told CBS News Station KCNC-TV. "She's an amazing person."

The hospital says both women will be in the hospital for at least the next four days.

Carranza had the surgery after one doctor refused to perform it, citing ethical concerns over the way it was arranged.

Carranza located Miller, 47, of Bowling Green, Ohio, on MatchingDonors.com. The Canton, Mass.-based Web site has prompted a debate over the ethics of such arrangements.

It is the second transplant in Denver arranged by MatchingDonors.com and the 16th nationally.

Dr. Ben Vernon, the surgeon who performed Carranza's operation, said that with the average time someone spends waiting for a kidney - around 30 months in Colorado - using living donors is a good alternative to get people healthy faster, even with an Internet-brokered arrangement.

"The only way I know of to beat that statistic is to have a living donor," he said at a news conference after the surgery.

Patients who have spent less time on dialysis do better after a transplant, he said.

Hank Fanelli, administrative director for the transplant team at Porter, said the hospital's ethics committee debated whether an Internet-brokered donor system was fair considering all the people on waiting lists for a kidney. But the hospital decided none of those people would be hurt by this type of transplant arrangement, he said.

"We're enabling and encouraging live donation," Fanelli said. "It takes somebody off the waiting list."

Organs traditionally are donated by family members or come from the deceased, but a shortage of donors leaves many on the waiting list for years, Fanelli said.

"The system itself has to realize there are other alternatives," he said.

Live donations have increased over the last decade, but people tend to prefer to offer a kidney to someone they know or, in the case of the Web site, someone whose story touches them, said Phil Gauchier, a doctor who specializes in kidney dialysis and transplants.

"I don't think I would be helping anybody by denying them the chance to do that," he said.

Both Carranza and Miller turned to MatchingDonors.com because of publicity surrounding its first transplant nearly a year ago at Denver's Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center.

The hospital at first halted the kidney transplant surgery when officials realized it was arranged through a commercial Web site but then allowed it to proceed, promising to study the issue further.

The hospital has since decided to allow such transplants, but the surgical team that performs kidney operations there still has concerns, the hospital said.

Carrie Miller said she had to temper excitement for Carranza with fear for her mother's health.

"I was more at peace with it when I realized that my mom wanted to do it for no other reason than to just give," she said.

Carranza's sister, Silvia Marty, said the Web site enabled Carranza to get a kidney after friends and family failed to be a match.

"We were fortunate enough to find this wonderful woman who was willing to give without asking anything in return ... to help a perfect stranger," she said.

The first person to ever have an organ transplant with an organ found over the Internet came to Denver to show support for Dr. Carranza. Bob Hickey received his kidney last year in Denver. He says the hardest part of the whole thing was getting used to having a new life.

Hickey, an Aspen-area psychologist, was able to speak to Carranza before the surgery and says their conversation was "a very moving experience."

"I told her her life was about to change and she was going to feel normal again and get ready, she's on a roll," said Hickey, who endured the white hot scrutiny of international media when it was revealed last year that he was receiving a kidney from a Tennessee stranger. "It's just magnificent that Porter [the hospital] has had an enlightened attitude about this process."