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Kidney donation starts lifesaving chain of events
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - July 02, 2009)
Kidney donation starts lifesaving chain of events
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
When George and Karen Lanstrum, of Munson Township, met their future daughter-in-law, they knew their son, George, had found a loving and giving partner.
"You know that the moment you meet her," Mrs. Lanstrum said of her daughter-in-law, Nicole, who grew up in the farming community of Galt, Iowa.
But the Lanstrums probably did not know the depth of Nicole's giving nature until she walked into the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles on June 9.
She went there, not to be healed herself, but to aid in the healing of another. Mrs Lanstrum donated one of her kidneys to a woman she never had met before and started a chain of donations that is expected to run 10-deep.
"It's like a domino effect, and I was the first domino," Mrs. Lanstrum said.
The woman, Valinda Jones, had been waiting for a transplant and had hoped her friend, Sarah, could provide one.
When it was found Sarah was not a match for her friend and Mrs. Lanstrum stepped forward, it inspired Sarah to find a person who was a match. The same day that Mrs. Lanstrum donated her kidney, Sarah did the same and it was flown to San Francisco for a waiting recipient.
That donation in turn, inspired the sister of Sarah's recipient to likewise donate her kidney to a stranger.
"The kidney transplant chain has been named the 'Service Before Self Transplant Chain' in honor of myself and one of the Air Force's core values," Mrs. Lanstrum said.
She said she and her husband are both in the U.S. Air Force, stationed in California. They met at an Air Force seminar in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2006, she said. Her husband is in security forces, while she is in intelligence.
Those core values, Mrs. Lanstrum said, are integrity, service before self and excellence in everything you do.
She said she hopes that the chain she started will inspire others to be just as giving, because the need for donors is critical.
Kidneys are responsible for removing waste and fluids from the body and without them, toxic chemicals can build up in the body. People must turn to dialysis, a time-consuming process, or hope for a transplant. Most people can wait between five to eight years for a transplant, Mrs. Lanstrum said.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, 17 people die every day while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ. In 2006, the foundation said, 3,916 kidney patients died while waiting for a transplant.
For Mrs. Lanstrum, the decision to donate her kidney was not a rushed one. She said it was something she had thought about since her teenage years. While other organs can be donated after one's death, a kidney can still be given by a living donor, she said.
She said she went through a slurry of tests before the donation could be approved. But, she said, the costs for those tests were all taken care of at no expense to her. She said she had the opportunity to change her mind up until the time the doctors put her under anesthesia.
She said while the surgery lasted four hours, it was minimally invasive and she was released after one night's stay in the hospital.
She said she is having no ill effects from her surgery.
For Mrs. Lanstrum, the reward was knowing she had eased the suffering of another human being. "I had the feeling that you get when you know you've picked out an awesome gift for someone, something you know they will love," she said.
While she was smiling and laughing before her surgery, she said, her husband was having a harder time with it. She described him as being a "nervous wreck" the day of the surgery.
Her mother-in-law said she worried, a typical "mom thing" to do. But, she said, she knew her daughter-in-law felt strongly. "I knew she was going into it with her eyes and heart wide open," Mrs. Lanstrum said. "When you see her conviction, you knew that it was important to her."
Her daughter-in-law never had gone under the knife before and said she did not meet her recipient before the surgery. "I didn't want to say 'Hi, good luck in surgery and I'll be praying for you,'" she said. "I wanted to sit and really talk."
She said she met with Ms. Jones the day after surgery and the two talked. She said Ms. Jones told her that Mrs. Lanstrum had given her an incredible gift and she promised to take good of the kidney.
Mrs. Lanstrum said she no longer thought of it as her kidney. "The second it was out, I no longer felt it was mine."
She has continued her friendship with Ms. Jones, sharing in her joy when Ms. Jones announced that she would no longer have to make the monthly order for solutions and supplies for her eight hours a day, everyday dialysis. Her creatine levels, a toxin removed by kidneys, were normal only two days after receiving her new kidney.
"It's truly an incredible feeling to be part of something so huge," Mrs. Lanstrum said. "It's been a life-changing experience, just a blessing to be part of this."
She said she hopes she inspires others to do similar selfless acts. Those interested are asked to go to the National Kidney Foundation's Web site for registration. Or, she said, if you just want to talk about it with her she will make herself available at (253) 985-5421.
"This is obviously something very near and dear to my heart ... Awareness is the key to improving the lives of more dialysis patients," she said.
She feels so strongly, she said, she would do it again. "But the surgeons told me that I don't have any extra kidneys. I've already given up the only spare I had."
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