Follow-Up: Friends in Good Condition After Transplant

Interracial kidney transplants are still unusual--there were only three among 260 transplants at UCLA Medical Center last year. But a six-hour transplant was performed there Tuesday between two friends--a black woman and a white man--and both are reported to be in good condition.

Dennis Gates and Janet Dixon became friends when both attended the Los Angeles Church of Christ, before the graveness of Dixon’s rare kidney ailment was diagnosed (“Sacrifice for a Friend,” Dec. 15, 1999). Surgery had been scheduled for December but was postponed at the last minute for medical reasons.

Barring complications, Dixon is expected to leave the hospital before the weekend while Gates can return home to Simi Valley early next week, hospital officials said.