The following patient stories appeared in the lay press in October.
The condition of a 13-year-old Maryland boy who in less than six weeks last spring received three sets of four donor organs—a small intestine, liver, pancreas, and stomach—continues to improve.
In fact, the boy recently indulged in his "first real meal ... in years," the Washington Post reported on October 11. The meal? Two pieces of fast-food chicken and ten french fries.
"Now, slowly, miraculously, he is making his way through all the tantalizing fast-food selections he could only dream about during the five years he was fed a diet of liquid nutrients for hours each night through an intravenous tube," the newspaper said.
Daniel is believed to be the only patient to have ever received three multiple-organ transplants. When Daniel was 8 years old, he needed only a small intestine, but the condition of his other organs deteriorated over the five years he waited for a transplant.
Clint Hallam, the 48-year-old Australian man who received a new forearm and hand in France on September 23, continues to do well. During a news conference in mid October at which his surgeons said he was in excellent condition and his hand showed no signs of rejection, Mr. Hallam wore a plaster cast from his fingers to his elbow. Although Mr. Hallam said that his transplanted right hand felt like his own, surgeons said it was too early for him to have any feeling in the new hand.
Kenneth Kuhn, 48, was reportedly in fair condition on October 26, two days after receiving a kidney from his comatose brother. According to the Associated Press, a court ruled that a kidney could be taken from 51-year-old Charles Kuhn, who went into what is believed to be an irreversible coma following a heart attack on September 23. Charles Kuhn had indicated on his driver's license that he was willing to be an organ donor, and the Medical College of Ohio Hospital was willing to perform the procedure, but it wanted court approval first, the Associated Press said. The judge noted that Charles Kuhn could live with only one kidney.
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