Love of Korea lives on

This story is somewhat close to my heart since my children are half Korean...


Linda Freel, a teacher in a school in Uijeongbu who lived in Korea for 14 years, donated organs on her death. (Yonhap News)

An American woman who died after a brain hemorrhage has given new life to three Koreans through life-saving organ donations, a local hospital said Tuesday.

Linda Freel, 52, who was a teacher at the International Christian School of Euijeongbu, became the first American to donate organs in Korea.

Fourteen years ago she settled here to teach students with her husband Rex Freel, who is principal of the school in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul.

On Jan. 20, Linda fell down from cerebral hemorrhaging in a classroom and was declared brain-dead the next day. She suffered no chronic illness.

As she had already expressed her willingness to give her organs, her husband immediately agreed that they be harvested for transplant.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldm.com) & taken from the Korea Herald
Read the rest of this story at: http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20110125000828

Cambridge woman thankful for heart donation

Andrea & her husban, Shaun

The following article was written about Andrea Clegg.  Andrea received her heart on December 21, 2011 at Toronto General Hospital.  It was the day of the winter solstice.  She hosts a wonderful blog at stayingtruetomyheart.blogspot.com.  Please click on the link to read her amazing story http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/476903--cambridge-woman-thankful-for-heart-donation.

Fallen Officer's Eyes Donated To Child

Canadian, fallen Officer, Sgt. Ryan Russell

Death did not stop Sgt. Ryan Russell from helping others.

Toronto Police Chaplain Rev. Walter Kelly announced during Russell’s funeral service that he had donated his eyes to a child.

“As Ryan closed his eyes in death, he gave resurrection and a new kind of life to someone else, and that’s wonderful,” Kelly said Wednesday.

He was with Russell’s family when they received the call from Trillium Gift of Life Network, who told the family Russell’s blue eyes had been donated to a child.

“Even in death he was giving,” Kelly said. “Families touched by a tragedy have to make a decision. Now with medical science the way it is we can care for someone else who is hoping and praying for a miracle.”

Frank Markel president and CEO of the Trillium Gift of Life Network said he thinks this donation says very good things about Russell, who signed a donor card, and his family, who supported the decision.

“For him to be so generous speaks volumes about who he was,” he said. “That in particular, his wife, would let him be a cornea donor speaks volumes. It’s entirely (keeping) with the courage we saw yesterday.”

Yet Markel understands why people may not want to part with their loves one’s eyes.

“For many people the eyes are so closely related to who we are,” he said.

Kelly urged people to think about organ donation before a death occurs.

“(Tragedies) happen in our lives, we don’t know, and sometimes we only have hours to decide,” he said.

The courage Russell and his family displayed by donating has not only helped the child who received the eyes but the family of that child who will no longer suffer.

“The cornea gives the gift of sight,” Markel said. “Sight is so precious to us, it opens up so much to us.”

By VICTORIA GRAY,TORONTO SUN

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2011/01/19/16952776.html

Okay, so this picture is pre-transplant [only hours pre-transplant], but
doesn't it look like it Michael could be at the biopsy clinic? : )

As time progresses, Michael has biopsies less frequently.  However, he is scheduled for two this week. Once a heart transplant patient becomes more stable, their biopsies are no longer at Toronto General Hospital but rather, are performed at Toronto Western Hospital.  On Tuesday, Michael was schedule for biopsy at the Western.  The fantastic Dr. Delgado attempted the biopsy through the jugular.  However, after attempts on both sides of the neck, Dr. Delgado was unsuccessful.  As a result, Michael's biopsy was rescheduled for Friday at the General.  Hopefully, Michael's jugular veins will cooperate on Friday!  If not, the doctor may have to go through the artery in the groin - meaning, a very, very long day at the hopsital with a lot of pressure to stop bleeding.  So much work for such a small piece of his heart!  Fingers crossed.

70 days in...

Seventy days post-transplant today!

Michael - just over 2 months post transplant

Today, Michael is seventy days post-transplant.  To date, he's only had one minor rejection & has continually had his plethora of medications reduced.  Things are looking good : )

World's first organ donor dies aged 79

Ronald Lee Herrick donated kidney to his dying twin brother in pioneering 1954 operation

A man who donated a kidney to his dying twin brother 56 years ago in the world's first successful organ transplant has died in the United States.

Ronald Lee Herrick died, aged 79, on Monday in the Augusta Rehabilitation Centre, a hospital in Maine, New England, following complications from heart surgery in October, his widow, Cynthia, said.
Herrick donated a kidney to his identical twin, Richard, in a pioneering operation on 23 December 1954.
The successful surgery kept Herrick's brother alive for eight years and was the first successful organ transplant, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. Lead surgeon Dr Joseph Murray went on to win the Nobel prize.
The operation proved that transplants were possible and led to thousands of other successful kidney transplants, and later the transplant of other organs.
Doctors around the world had tried a few transplants before the breakthrough operation, without success, said Murray, who went on to perform another 18 transplants between identical twins.
"This operation rejuvenated the whole field of transplantation," said Murray, 91, who lives in Wellesley, Massachusetts.
"There were other people studying transplants in four or five different countries, but the fact that it worked so well with the identical twins was a tremendous stimulus."
Herrick grew up on a farm in Rutland, Massachusetts, and later served in the US army.
He was 23 when he donated a kidney to his brother, who was dying from chronic nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys. Murray thought the odds of a transplanted organ being accepted would be enhanced since they were identical twins.
Before the operation, many opposed the idea of transplanting an organ, equating it with desecration of a body. Others argued it was unethical to operate on healthy humans, and editors of medical journals wrote that it was contrary to the Hippocratic oath to never do harm to anyone, Murray said.
But Herrick was not dissuaded from the operation. "He was the only one in the world who could save his brother's life, so he was going to do it," said Cynthia Herrick. "There was no question about it."

Background

When were the first organ transplants?
The first successful kidney transplant, in 1954, was Ronald Lee Herrick. The first heart transplant was 1967.
Which organs can be transplanted?
Organs that can be transplanted include the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, thymus, ovaries, penis and uterus. Tissues that can be transplanted include bones, tendons, cornea, skin, heart valves, and veins. Recent developments include hand and full face transplants.


Taken from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/dec/30/first-organ-donor-dies-79