Giving the Gift of Life:
It’s All in a Day’s Work
When Eileen Stanford, RN, BSN, nurse coordinator at UPMC’s Artificial Heart Program, started working with people awaiting transplants over 20 years ago, she never dreamed that one day she would actually be an organ donor for her husband, Don. Don has lived with diabetes for 25 years. Because he managed it so well, he was able to avoid dialysis five years longer than his doctors expected. During this time, Don’s doctor monitored him closely. When the time came for Don to be worked up for a transplant, the doctor recommended that he seek a kidney from a living donor.
Eileen wanted to be considered first. “I told them, let’s start with me. I really felt that it would be OK,” she said. Eileen had to undergo blood tests to determine whether her kidney would be a good match for Don. When the results came back, she learned that she matched as if she were a sibling or parent. “I knew I would match. I don’t know how, but I did.”
Although some of their family members had concerns about Eileen donating a kidney to Don, Eileen was not at all worried. In fact, there was never any doubt in her mind. She and Don have been married for 21 years. They have a daughter named Emilee who is 17 years old and a son named Brett who is 16 years old. Eileen says, “For me it was very easy. I didn’t have any conflicts.”
The surgery was performed Jan. 5, 2004, at UPMC Montefiore. Henkie Tan, MD, PhD, a surgeon at the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute and director of the living-donor kidney transplantation program, performed Eileen’s laproscopic surgery, and Ron Shapiro, MD, director of kidney, pancreas, and islet transplantation at the Starzl Institute, performed the transplant. Eileen went home from the hospital four days later and Don went home the day after that. Just five weeks after the surgery, Don returned to work full-time as a letter carrier. Eileen went back to work at the same time.
Eileen reports that the kidney transplant has helped to improve Don’s life. “He’s great,” she says. “He has so much energy now. All he did before was sleep.” Don is taking full advantage of his newfound energy. He and Eileen are able to travel, and he’s even joined a golf league.
As a nurse coordinator, Eileen deals with people waiting for heart transplants on a daily basis. “People don’t know what it’s like to wait for a transplant but they need to be aware. I have found that it helps when they actually see people who are waiting, or who have received an organ, and the difference it has made in their lives. I think donation is truly the greatestgift because you are saving another person’s life.”
Learn more about living-donor kidney donation at UPMC >