HELLO!
My name is Philip. At the end of 2013 I was unfortunate enough to be so ill that I needed a liver transplant ... yet I was fortunate to be able to qualify for and receive a liver transplant in the late summer of 2015 at Indiana University Medical Center (or University Hospital) in Indianapolis.
As a result I, along with many others, can say that we are "livering proof" that the organ donation system in the United States does and can work for anyone, all due to the thoughtfulness of just one person, the organ donor.
If you want to know more about what it is like to get a organ transplant in general or at University Hospital in particular, this is a place to discover more from at least one patient's perspective, mine.
Yet if you are new to the world of needing a liver transplant, you are not alone, by any means. As I write this nearly 149,000 people have had a liver transplant, and that is just in the United States. Just think what the number must be when all liver transplants from all around the world are taken into account.
The links to the right are arranged by topics that should help you to get to some interesting websites, which are arranged by topics that should be helpful to anyone who is in need of a transplant or just curious about the many issues involved in getting one. You might think of them as a "transplant toolbox" of websites.
The following items are the links that will take you to some more recent stories and news about the transplanted world.
TRANSPLANTED!
My name is Philip. At the end of 2013 I was unfortunate enough to be so ill that I needed a liver transplant ... yet I was fortunate to be able to qualify for and receive a liver transplant in the late summer of 2015 at Indiana University Medical Center (or University Hospital) in Indianapolis.
As a result I, along with many others, can say that we are "livering proof" that the organ donation system in the United States does and can work for anyone, all due to the thoughtfulness of just one person, the organ donor.
If you want to know more about what it is like to get a organ transplant in general or at University Hospital in particular, this is a place to discover more from at least one patient's perspective, mine.
Yet if you are new to the world of needing a liver transplant, you are not alone, by any means. As I write this nearly 149,000 people have had a liver transplant, and that is just in the United States. Just think what the number must be when all liver transplants from all around the world are taken into account.
The links to the right are arranged by topics that should help you to get to some interesting websites, which are arranged by topics that should be helpful to anyone who is in need of a transplant or just curious about the many issues involved in getting one. You might think of them as a "transplant toolbox" of websites.
The following items are the links that will take you to some more recent stories and news about the transplanted world.
TRANSPLANTED!
- Organ Donors Gave More than 2 Million Years of Life to Sick Patients (LA Times, Jan. 29, 2015)
- U.S. Organ Transplants Reach 30K Milestone, Thanks to Increased Donations (Jan. 13, 2016)
- Liver Transplant Recipient Shares Story (SDPB Radio, March 29, 2017)
- Celebrating 35 Years after a Liver Transplant (YouTube, July 20, 2016)
- The woman with the 100-YEAR-OLD kidney: 68-year-old has the world's oldest transplanted organ - and it's still going strong! (Aug. 16, 2016)
- Longest surviving liver transplant patient is 70-year-old Devizes man (Gazette & Herald (UK), Feb. 8. 15, 2015)
- How an adopted woman’s search for her family helped save a relative’s life (WP, July 7, 2016)
- A startling ending in mother’s quest to find recipient of deceased son’s heart (WP, July 26, 2016)
- Alive with a New, Old Liver (Feb.3, 2014)
- Giving Life: Organ Donation in Australia, in Pictures (2016).
These and even more such stories can be found at my Pinterest board (Transplanted!) or at my Twitter feed (Transplant Stories).
A SYSTEM THAT WORKS . . . & HOW TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER
- Steve Jobs’ liver—and the quest for a better organ algorithm (ARSTechnica, March 15, 2017)
- 10 Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Organ Transplants (EverydayHealth.com)
- Using Tweets and Posts to Speed Up Organ Donation (May 10, 2016)
- Finding Organ Donors Concealed in Plain Sight (May 17, 2016)
- Need a Kidney? Not Iranian? You’ll Wait. (July 31, 2015)
- In Iran, unique system allows payments for kidney donors (AP, Aug. 25, 2016)
- It’s Time to Compensate Kidney Donors (Aug. 7, 2015)
- Why Don't More People Want to Donate Their Organs? (Nov. 10, 2014)
- Should the Government Decide if You're an Organ Donor? (Feb. 12, 2016)
- Would you opt out of saving my life? (Dec. 29 ,2015)
- Opting In vs. Opting Out (NYT, Sept. 26, 2009)
- Where You Live Matters for Lifesaving Liver Transplants (May 22, 2014)
- New York is 49th Out of 50 States in Organ Donation (April 7, 2014)
- Liver Transplants Hard to Come by in California (Bakersfield.com, 2016)
DONOR STORIES
TRANSPLANT TECH
- Organ Transplants Have Come a Long Way but Hurdles Remain (July 11, 2016)
- UCL Scientist's New Technique to 'Repair' Damaged Livers (West End Extra (UK), Aug. 6, 2016)
- The Great American Kidney Swap (NYT, April 30, 2015)
- Seoul National University Hospital boasts lead in laparoscopic liver transplants (The Korea Herald (KoreaHerald.com), March 31, 2017)
- How An Economist Helped Patients Find The Right Kidney Donors (NPR, June 11, 2015)
- We Now Have the Cure for Hepatitis C, but Can We Afford It? (Sept. 1, 2014)
CONTROVERSIES
Marijuana can cause health problems, if you smoke it and need a transplant. Some criminals in prison need transplants and can't get one, and China has executed prisoners for people who need an organ transplant. These are just some of the controversies involved in the U.S. and around the world with regards to organ transplantation.
- In need of a kidney transplant, he got kicked off the list for using medical marijuana (The Herald Sun, March 29, 2017)
- Yes, your doctor might Google you (MedicalXPress.com, March 30, 2017)
- Law professor sues to secure medical treatment for inmate - Alleges treatment for Hepatitis C, cirrhosis withheld (The Cavalier Daily (Univ. of Va. (Charlottesville)), April 3, 2017)
- Ethical Questions Raised on China's Organ Donation System (SFGate.com, Aug. 28, 2016)
- Does China Still Harvest Organs of Executed? Doctors Divided (SFGate.com, Aug. 30, 2016)
DRUGS & DRUG PRICES
Ursodiol (mentioned in these articles) is a drug used by liver patients pre- and post-transplant, and it is one of those drugs which has made the news of late due to inordinate price increases, especially for a generic drug.
GETTING TO STAGE 4 & THE NEED FOR A TRANSPLANT
Hepatitis C has historically been the cause for the need for most liver transplants, but with a cure now available, NASH is ready to take its place as the number one "liver killer."
