OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — Oil City resident Dennis Perry is desperate for help. After a successful liver transplant 23 years ago, he is now in need of a new kidney.
“I’m praying that I can find a warm heart that will match up to my blood type,” Dennis said. “It’s hard to find the right donor. Blood type has to match—I’m type O positive—and antibodies have to match, too.”
In order to be a kidney donor, a candidate must not be diabetic or have high blood pressure.
Dennis has approached all of his family and friends. Many are not good candidates due to their own health problems, others don’t have the right blood type or matching antibodies. He said a friend from church volunteered, and it looked good, but due to kidney stones, the doctors couldn’t accept the donation.
Liver transplants have surprisingly high survival rates. According to the Mayo Clinic, 75% of transplant patients make it at least five years. Long-term survival studies are few and far between, but some studies suggest a survival rate of about 50% at 18 years. Dennis has been living with his transplanted liver for 23 years. In Dennis’ case, his required anti-rejection medication, the drugs that have made it possible for him to live this long, are likely the reason his kidneys are now failing.
“My anti-rejection medication is hard on my kidneys,” he said. “Basically, I’m losing protein out of my kidney. I’m losing weight and muscle.”
There are about 100,000 people currently on a kidney transplant wait list in the United States. A typical patient needs to wait three to five years to be matched with a donor. Patients like Dennis must receive dialysis treatments to last that long. Dennis goes in for dialysis three times a week in addition to his other doctor’s appointments. It has become almost a full-time job just to stay alive.
There are two ways to shorten the time a patient will need to wait to receive a transplant: find a direct donor or find a “swap-out” donor.
A swap-out donor is somebody who doesn’t match up with the patient but is still willing to donate. The United Network for Organ Sharing, the organization that manages the transplant waiting list, finds patient for the donor who also has a swap-out donor who matches up with the first patient.
If you’re willing to help Dennis by donating one of your kidneys, please call UPMC Transplant Services at 412-647-4438 and tell them you’d like to become a donor for Dennis Perry.
