Jun 25, 2007 - 04:07:42 CDT
Mike Matthews jokes about his two female kidneys, but he speaks plainly about the diabetes that gave him kidney failure.
He received his second kidney transplant from his niece Tuesday at Medcenter One.
"I was a freshman in college, they had no clue what diabetes even was," said the 58-year-old Matthews. He later dropped out of school. He worked at the power plant in Beulah then moved to Bismarck, which made treatment easier.
Matthews has type I diabetes, which is when the body does not produce insulin. In addition to kidney failure that resulted in the transplants, he lost part of his left leg just above the ankle about a year ago. The loss of his leg makes fishing on the shore difficult. It's hard to maneuver the prosthesis on rocks, he said.
He was the 300th kidney transplant recipient at Medcenter One since the program began in 1988.
"When my daughter's kidney quit, Icouldn't breathe, it was mostly full of water, and it was at 11 percent function," Matthews said.
People who receive kidney transplants are in the advanced stages of kidney failure.
"I'm one of a team. The credit goes to everybody else," surgeon Nadim Koleilat said about the milestone surgery.
In addition to the surgeon, there are the transplant coordinators, like coordinator Rhonda Ward, who help make sure every thing is order before the surgery takes place.
Whether 300th or 43rd patient, which he was when he received his first transplant, the operation gave Matthews his life back. His first transplanted kidney, donated by his daughter, started failing three years ago, and he started dialysis. Eleven years is a good run for a living donor kidney when the average is five years. The longest a transplanted kidney has lasted is 27 years, Dr. Koleilat said.
"All results have shown kidney transplants have a better quality of life than on dialysis," Dr. Koleilat said.
The kidney was donated by his niece Rachel McCly, of Tucson, Ariz. Verna hadn't seen her since she was a girl. Now she's 35 and married to an anesthesiologist who works in a private practice north of Tucson.
"The girls are totally selfless," Verna Matthews said. "There was never any hesitation. For Mike, it is a chance to live."
McCly is the daughter of Mike Matthews' brother, who originally was going to donate a kidney. Health issues prevented him from doing it, McCly said. When she found out from her father that he couldn't, the idea came to her without a second thought, she said. But her father cautioned her to give it more thought.
"My dad, Mike's brother, called in April and told me how hard it was going to be to not be a donor," McCly said. "I said right away I would be a donor. He said Ineed to think about it and talk to Jerry."
She talked with her husband, Jerry, and they prayed about it together and with the members of their church.
"I was frightened," Jerry McCly said. "I felt better after I met the health care team. It made a big difference."
He and his wife also prayed with their Bible study group before getting on the plane. "That meant a lot," he said.
Her mother, Cathy Cermak, of Tucson, was frightened as well, but understood why her daughter wanted to do it.
"It is a wonderful thing she is doing," Cermak said. "The mom side of me wondered, 'Why you?' All my co-workers know why I'm here and say Imust be proud of her. She is special. To give this life is special."
Jerry McCly and Cermak came to North Dakota on Monday to be there with Rachel McCly for the surgery Tuesday.
Part of Rachel McCly's preparation for the surgery included talking to past donors. Rachel McCly also talked to her cousin, Tricia Nystrom.
In 1993, Nystrom was 23 years old, just out of college, when Mike Matthews had his first transplant. It was the 43rd kidney transplant at Medcenter One.
Rachel McCly's surgery and Nystrom's surgery were different. Rachel McCly's kidney was removed laparoscopically, which is a small incision, and the patiest is ready to leave three days later, while Nystrom has a scar across the left side of her abdomen and her back and was in the hospital 11 days. Nystrom was back to work five weeks later.
Mike Matthews never asked his daughter if she would donate a kidney, just as he never asked Rachel McCly. Tears roll down his cheeks, and it takes him a moment to get the words out when he thinks it over.
"When you're dying and someone gives you your life back, it's a big deal," Mike Matthews said.
For Nystrom, it seemed like an obvious decision.
"If you're dad's dying, you don't think about it," she said. One fewer kidney didn't slow her down. She had twins in 2000 without complication and is still healthy at 38. She just had to agree to not partake in aggressive contact sports, drink lots of water and watch her salt intake.
"It's what you do to save family," she said. "I'd do it again if I had another kidney to donate."
For Mike Matthews' niece and daughter to be eligible donors, they had to be in good health, match blood type and try to match as closely as possible on antigens, which helps limit organ rejection. A series of tests are performed, from blood work, physical exams and phycological exams.
In a kidney transplant, the failing kidneys are left in the body, unless it will cause harm to keep them or there is no space in the torso to add the new kidney. The kidneys are toward the back, but the transplanted kidney goes toward the front of the abdomen in the groin area, Dr. Koleilat said.
"Living donor kidneys last longer," he said.
Kidney transplants can be from living donors or from people who recently died. For the latter type of donation, people are placed on waiting lists, and it can take up to three years to get an organ, Koleilat said. The recipient's health insurance picks up the donor's costs, Mike Matthews said.
Prior to the surgery, kidney transplant recipients are on a special diet, but it's usually not much different than the diet they are on because of their illness. After the transplant, they are put on an immunosuppressant drug, have blood work done to check for signs of rejection and, for a short time, are put on antiviral medication to guard against infection. Transplant patients do not need to be on a restrictive diet, although they should pay attention to salt and water intake.
"It's like you have your life back," Mike Matthews said. "I could barely make it home from work. Dialysis takes a lot out of you."
Verna Matthews notices a change in his energy level and ability to think, she said.
The new kidney will give the Matthews freedom he and his wife haven't experienced since he started dialysis. They will be able to travel without making appointments for dialysis and other arrangements, Verna Matthews said.
"Without the transplant, he wouldn't be here," she said. "We have a chance to grow old together."
(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)
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