For several years our family would follow the newspaper reports of transplant patients throughout the country. Noted heart specialist Dr. Chad Calland would ultimately receive five kidney transplants between 1969 and 1970. This fifth and final transplant would last until his death in 1972.
Since receiving his kidney transplant in August 1969, Darel Mason has understood that the risk of rejection would always be a possibility. Fortunately, his transplant was successful for an astonishing 35+ years.
One of the major findings from Dr. Calland's experience was that doctors would discover that while they were pre-screening candidates for 12 tissue factors, there were in fact 29 factors that should be checked. This brought the success rate in kidney transplants from approximately 33% to 70% and higher.
For anyone who has walked through one transplant, they understand the difficult and risk involved in the surgery. We are grateful to those like Chad Calland who sacrificed so much in order that later generations might know early success in the transplant they receive.
2 comments:
Dear Darel,
My name is Alicia Calland Waldheim, and I am Dr. Calland's oldest daughter, now aged 49 yrs. I happened to be cruising the internet and found your article and was very blessed by it. I would like to thank you for your comments on my father and all we went through in this ancient, archaic time of early transplantation.
Being a physician and a patient simultaneously caused my Dad much angst and insight that normally a renal patient would not experience. It was both extremely difficult for him (reading his own charts and listening to his primary physicians)while at the same time he felt he needed to share his experiences so doctors could heighten their awareness of the patient's feelings about their quality of life.
Thank you for your blog and best wishes to you for vibrant health and a long life.
Alicia,
We're honored that you would take the time to respond. Thanks so much for your kind words. I will be with Darel and my brother Ron as we celebrate our dad's birthday today. I'll be sure to share your note with them.
Sincerely,
Dave Mason
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