Countywide : Kidney Recipient Issues Appeal

Vickey Brim, who had a kidney transplant last week, made a plea from her hospital bed Monday for more people to get involved in organ and tissue donor programs.

At least 44,000 patients nationwide are on the waiting list for transplants, she said, and the majority of them, about 31,000, need a kidney. Some wait years for a transplant and are finally chosen for one. Others die during the wait.

Brim, whose surgery proceeded with no complications, says she was lucky. “If this weren’t available,” she said of her transplant, “I wouldn’t be able to do some of the things I’m planning on doing.”

Brim’s surgery was at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where she became the hospital’s 200th kidney transplant patient.

Medical officials cite a number of reasons for the shortage of donors and are speaking out during National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, April 21 to 27, to increase awareness of available programs and to clear up misconceptions.

For example, officials said, there is no cost to donors and most major Western religions have no prohibition against organ donations. But potential donors should clearly convey their wishes, they said, because family members in some cases can revoke a donor agreement.

Brim waited more than two years for a kidney donor with blood and tissue types matching hers. A diabetic, she experienced kidney failure after taking antibiotics prescribed for a bout of pneumonia.

While awaiting a new kidney, the 46-year-old Fullerton resident was on dialysis to cleanse her blood of toxins. She said the dialysis allowed her to lead a relatively normal life, but could not give her the vitality she will have with the new organ.

“It just feels like the old me again,” said Brim, an ordained minister with the nondenominational Peace Community Church. “Ready to start the day when the day starts.”