Variants within the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) locus are likely the most important for predicting whether a kidney transplant will be successful, a new study has found. While kidney transplant outcomes have improved over the past decade, there are a number of factors that affect long-term outcomes, including HLA mismatch. The HLA gene complex helps the immune system tell friend from foe, and close matches are needed in organ transplants to limit rejection. Researchers led by King’s College London’s Graham Lord conducted a genome-wide association study of organ donor and recipient DNA from ..read more

Good afternoon, Today I want to share that Beth Chapman had her kidney transplant at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston. Beth received one of her sisters kidneys and is feeling great and things are going very well. Their physicians stated that both sisters are doing even better than expected right after surgery. Soon after the surgery Beth and Erica were out of bed and hugging as shown in the photo below. Soon after the surgery Beth and her sister were out of bed and hugging as shown in this photo It’s wonderful to share great news with you. M The post Great News- LI TRIO f ..read more

Dana Sepulveda, then terminally ill, got the call from her doctor in June that the liver and kidney she needed were available — if she got to the hospital in Manhattan in 90 minutes. The Massapequa mother of two — who is married to an NYPD officer — said she was shaking and desperate to get to Mount Sinai Hospital when she walked into the Nassau County Police Department’s Seventh Precinct in Seaford asking for help at about 6 a.m. on June 26. “I went in by myself, completely frantic, in my pajamas,” Sepulveda, 36, a Realtor, recalled Sunday in an interview, saying an ambulance wouldn’t have m ..read more

When I decided to donate my kidney, it wasn’t much of a decision-making process, but more like a tap on the shoulder. I read a newspaper article about how kidney donations help desperate families, and I thought about my late husband. He died from ALS in 2014, and it would have meant the world to me to have more time together when he was healthy. The thought of prolonging another family’s time with their loved one really stuck with me. I thought, “I can do that,” and I called a transplant center the next day. Even though I’m a doctor, I initially found the process of donating confusing and diso ..read more

LI TRIO was lucky to have Michael Reed speak as a guest speaker at our LI TRIO Donor Rose Garden Re-dedication Ceremony. There has been some recent press and here, he has received the Stony Brook University Medical Center President’s Volunteer Service Award for his community service efforts with the medical center. Long Island TRIO member and kidney recipient Michael Reed has advocated for organ donations and has spent years helping other kids like him. Michael Reed — a MacArthur High School student who received a new purpose in life when he received a kidney transplant — was recently invited ..read more

LI TRIO member Avram Gabay received a surprise visit on Friday from a woman who gave him the gift of life. Avram’s son Brian was a special guest speaker at our 2016 LI TRIO Donor Rose Garden Re-dedication Ceremony where he told the story of how he won a house on a reality television show in order to somehow show his appreciation to Jennifer Wolfe the woman who saved his father’s life by donating one of her kidneys to Avram. See and hear Avram sing here. Watch the CBS News Report here. With his family by his side, 67-year-old Avram Gabay shared his struggle to find a kidney donor with ..read more

Last June, after it became clear that their 3-month-old son, Nathan, needed a liver transplant, Rob and Christina Whitehead of Mokena, Ill., created a Facebook page to tell his story. Word spread quickly. “More than a hundred people called our donor hotline,” recalled Talia B. Baker, director of the Living Donor Liver Transplant program at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In August, Nathan received a transplant. He’s had some complications, but nine months later, videos show him cruising happily with his walker. Nathan’s case is not unique. “There have been several instance ..read more

Syracuse, N.Y. – A new mom from LaFayette who needed a kidney transplant went on Facebook to seek a donor and found one in four days. The Jan. 14 post on Victoria Fitzpatrick’s Facebook page had a photo of Fitzpatrick and her baby, Carter, who was born Nov. 4, with this message: “Hi! My name is Carter. This is my mommy, Victoria, holding me. She’s pretty and smells nice. She doesn’t feel so good though. Dad says she needs a new kid knee because hers are broken and we need someone to give her a new one.” Janet Burton, Fitzpatrick’s mother, came up with the idea for the Facebook post, which was ..read more

Though his work has saved thousands of lives, few people know the name of Dr. Paul Terasaki. Due to the new kidney allocation policy, ironically at the age of 86, Terasaki found himself in need of an organ transplant as his kidneys were failing. His age, he noted, put him at the bottom of the list – no exception just because he was the one who made transplants possible. The UCLA professor survived great hardships as a child to become a pioneer in the field of organ transplant medicine. It was his research at UCLA in the 1960s that led to the tissue compatibility test, which helped preven ..read more

A 20-year-old college student who got a kidney donated by his identical twin brother is reaping a rare benefit — the ability to stop taking immunosuppressant drugs that most organ recipients take for the rest of their lives. Brian Connor had been dealing with kidney disease and steadily declining kidney function since birth. Two years ago, his kidneys were so bad that he was put on dialysis three times a week for three to four hours at a time, he said. To save his life, his doctors said he’d need a transplant. Fortunately, Connor was able to turn to his twin brother, Andrew, for help. The pair ..read more