Photo: Ray Fearing, of Arlington Heights, got a kidney transplant from his sister, but his body did not accept it. The kidney was then donated to another patient. Fearing is awaiting another donation. (Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune / May 8, 2012)
In unusual procedure, recipient whose body rejected organ donates it to another
By the time Ray Fearing was first diagnosed with a rare kidney disease back in 2000, the damage that had already been done was such that a transplant would eventually be his only option.
"By then, they (the doctors) had noticed there was a lot of protein" leaking from his kidneys, said Fearing, 27, of Arlington Heights. "I think I was at about like 20 percent kidney function when they did my first biopsy, and it deteriorated to 13 percent within a year or two."
Fearing was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, or FSGS, a disease that causes scarring on the kidney and makes it unable to properly filter waste in the blood. The illness is mostly found in young adults, and about 5,400 people are diagnosed with it each year, according to research advocacy organization NephCure Foundation.
After years of drug therapy to offset the symptoms of his disease, Fearing finally underwent a transplant last June with a kidney that was donated by his sister Cera, 21.
Read more: http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-x-one-kidney-two-patients-20120509,0,7775849.story
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
No comments:
Post a Comment