Some patient stories reported in the news recently included the following:
The Australian man who received a transplanted forearm and hand on September 23 has begun moving all of the fingers of his new hand "and is gaining function with surprising swiftness," the New York Times reported on November 17. There have been no signs of rejection since 48-year-old Clint Hallam underwent the surgery. The newspaper quoted surgeon Earl Owen as saying that Mr. Hallam is "doing superbly and better than any of us ever would have hoped."
A ten-month-old boy who received a liver and bowel transplant became a heart donor after he died in mid November of an unrelated cause. Joey Bullock of Lancaster, Texas, was born with gastroschisis and was recovering from his transplant when he choked on mucus, which led to brain damage and death. The boy's heart was donated to an unidentified 5-month-old girl from Washington.
A couple who met on the Internet a year ago were a perfect match in more ways than one. Teresa Fleming, of Manchester Township, Pennsylvania, and Ian Fleming, of Manchester, England, met in an online chat room in 1997 and married after a brief courtship. Teresa had had a kidney transplant in 1984 and went on dialysis after the graft failed eight years later. Their story made headlines on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean after Ian offered to give his right kidney to Teresa and it turned out to be a perfect match. The couple underwent surgery in adjoining rooms at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia on November 10 and were reportedly in stable condition following the operations.
The Maryland boy who received three sets of four organs in six weeks last spring has finally left Miami's Jackson's Children Hospital after a six-month recovery period. Daniel Canal, who turned 14 in November, left the hospital with a new liver, pancreas, small intestine, and stomach. The multiorgan transplants helped fuel the current national debate over how donor organs should be distributed.
The first man to receive a successful larynx transplant, Tim Heidler of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, has reportedly progressed so much since his January surgery at the Cleveland Clinic that he routinely talks with friends and family on the telephone. For the previous 19 years, Mr. Heidler had only been able to speak with the aid of an electro-larynx. He lost his own larynx in a motorcycle accident.
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