Kim & her children.
By Kim DeAngelo
September 14, 2011 is the day I refer to as “the day I got my smile back.” On that day, I underwent brain surgery to help alleviate symptoms of a Chiari Malformation, which occurs when the cerebellum (at the back part of the brain) slips from the skull and into the spinal column. I had been suffering from the debilitating symptoms of Chiari for a couple years and each day was more difficult than the last. As I approached surgery, I had a progressive headache for nearly two years without relief, was numb from my fingertips to my nose, had balance issues, experienced dizziness and vertigo on a daily basis, struggled with visual disturbances and many other physical symptoms.
There is no cure for Chiari, but the surgery relieves the symptoms by creating more space in the skull and area surrounding the brain. It was my only hope for living a more normal life. My surgery was incredibly successful and it was ever more life-changing than I first realized because donor tissue was used in the area surrounding my brain, allowing me to be nearly symptom free. I am now a tissue recipient!
There are no words to express the tremendous gratitude that I carry as the result of my donor’s selfless gift. It has given me my life back. My children have had their mom returned to them and my smile and laughter are truly from the heart.
By Mark Hennessy, heart recipient
In May 2007 a trip to the doctor changed my life. I had an ultrasound to check on issues from kidney stones when doctors saw fluid in my lungs. My lungs were full of water because my heart was failing. Read More »
by Mater Alexander (Liver Recipient)
My name is Mater and I love to sing. I am a Christian soloist with a music ministry and love to tell people about the love of Jesus Christ. I have been in the prisons throughout Ohio, and have had a ministry in eight nursing homes within the inner city. I sing for church services, retreats and fund raisers. My music is a very important part of my life, but because of serious illnesses I have had to put my music on hold at various times and three years before my transplant, I thought I would never sing again.
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When you’re a football player, getting knocked around comes with the territory. But, when Brandon Krushall, a student at Kansas Wesleyan University, sustained an injury to his shoulder in the fall season of 2010, he didn’t think it would lead to surgery.
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I was a juvenile diabetic, so I always was very aware of my health. I was able to stay pretty healthy until I was 26. That’s when my kidneys started to fail.
In 1987, I began peritoneal dialysis treatments to do the work my kidneys could no longer do. Dialysis was horrible for me. I suffered constant fatigue, nausea, and swelling and eventually found it very difficult to continue working. When my doctors began talking about a kidney transplant, my husband and I decided to return home to Columbus, with our three very young children, to have the extra support of my family.
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By Afatamah McNair, liver recipient
It started with itching on the palms of my hands and the bottoms of my feet. This strange sensation led me to believe I was having some sort of reaction to pesticides. I went to my doctor and was stunned to learn that the itching was a symptom of an auto-immune disease.
As a result of this condition, my liver was failing and I would need a transplant to survive. Read More »
By Rob West, Liver Recipient
Have you ever asked yourself how you would do things differently if you were given a second chance? This was something I never asked until about two years ago but now I am living out the answer to that question. Read More »
By Diane Tefft Young, lung transplant recipient
Reflections on receiving a lung transplant:
In late autumn 2004, I was diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This typically fatal restrictive lung disease involves the progressive scarring and subsequent stiffening of the lung which causes breathing to become increasingly more difficult. Although I became tearful when I heard the diagnosis that I would live for only three to five more years – in that moment the time span appeared to be lengthy. Read More »
By Terri Louder, tissue recipient
I’ve always taken good care of my teeth, went to the dentist regularly and never had any major issues. Over the years, I started experiencing painful sensitivity and my dentist told me my gums were receding. Receding gums not only cause discomfort, but can lead to tooth root decay. I was told I would need a gum graft. Read More »
by Emily DeArdo (Double lung recipient)
When I was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of 11, a double-lung transplant wasn’t even on the horizon for me. It was 1993, and transplantation was still something that was rare enough to merit a spot on the nightly news. Besides, my family and I thought that I would never be that sick. Read More »
