Tag: "Kidney Transplant"
Patient celebrates a “second birthday,” freedom from diabetes and dialysis and a new future
Type 1 diabetes and kidney failure are both devastating conditions on their own. Together, they can be overwhelming. Yes, insulin and dialysis can keep patients alive. But with a strict diet, daily insulin injections, the rigorous routine of dialysis treatments and many complications make it very difficult to live life to the fullest – or for very long. For some patients, a [...]
Transplant coordinator tries to inspire her patients through action
If you saw Andrea Markwardt, RN, CCTN, now, especially when she’s working out, you’d never suspect she was once out of shape and overweight. Andrea is a Barnes-Jewish Hospital kidney transplant coordinator. She works out in the BJC WellAware Center on Taylor Avenue under the watchful eye of trainer Brittany Tucker. Markwardt says she felt bad [...]
Dartmouth transplant surgeon talks life, death and donation
A new book looks at the line between life and death, and the author says that after researching and writing it, he still has questions about it. National Public Radio’s Terry Gross interviewed Dick Teresi, author of The Undead: Organ Harvesting, the Ice-Water Test, Beating Heart Cadavers — How Medicine Is Blurring the Line Between [...]
Tomorrow is World Kidney Day – Coddle your kidneys!
Tomorrow, March 8, is World Kidney Day. But the transplant doctors at Barnes-Jewish Hospital won’t exactly be celebrating. You see, they’d rather not be in the kidney transplant business. Don’t get me wrong – they love being able to save people’s lives and get them off of dialysis and back to normal living. They just [...]
Paired kidney exchange gets people off the waiting list, back into living
Here’s a simple way to explain kidney transplant chains: In a kidney chains, a person who want to give a kidney to a specific kidney patient, but who don’t match that patient, gives their kidney to someone else whom they match but don’t know and who also has an unmatching donor so that the person they originally intended [...]
A patient’s journey: Terry Fessenden gives a clear picture of kidney transplant
Have you been told that you need a kidney transplant? Does the prospect scare you? Or do you know someone who’s debating whether to go on the transplant waiting list or not? One of our recent kidney transplant patients, Terry Fessenden, shared a very clear, very detailed account of his transplant journey. And if you’re a [...]
Alton man celebrates National Donor Day….by donating!
It’s Valentine’s Day, but it’s also National (Organ/Tissue) Donor Day. Paul Wallace, 40, of Alton, IL, celebrated both by giving his wife’s best friend a kidney here at Barnes-Jewish Hospital this morning. Wallace’s wife, Sarah, said that when they heard her friend Vanessa Vassar, 40, of Mattoon, IL, needed a kidney, Paul immediately said, “I can get [...]
“Sempre Gumby” recipient helps raise awareness of need for organs
Our partners at Mid-America Transplant Services (MTS), the region’s organ procurement organization, are participating in a very cool initiative. Donate Life America is posting “365 Stories of Hope” on their Facebook page. They’ll be posting one transplant story a day all year from around the country. Each state takes one week. This is Missouri’s week and [...]
Canadian transplant healthcare – one model the US might not want to copy
There’s a debate raging right now over whether the U.S. should build a pipeline to make export of oil extracted from Canada’s oil sands easier. As this story in the Toronto Star points out that Canada’s transplant waiting list problem is one thing we definitely don’t need to import. While the Canadian government’s socialized medicine program [...]
Long-term transplant survival: An answer to a 24-year-old question
A quick history lesson before we tell you about Cindy Conrad: Organ transplant was first attempted in the 1950s. At first, the only transplants performed were living donor kidney transplants between identical twins, who, being genetically identical, were automatically a perfect match. In the 1960s and 1970s, surgeons tried other types of transplants. But steroids, [...]
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