Five Loyola employees donate kidneys to complete strangers

Loyola University Medical Center is believed to be the first organization in the country, and perhaps the world, in which five employees have each donated kidneys to complete strangers with no strings attached.

Two other employees have donated kidneys to casual acquaintances, asking nothing in return.

The Good Samaritan donors are known as "The Seven Sisters of Loyola." Officials at two major organ transplant agencies say they have never heard of so many employees of a single company donating kidneys to non-relatives. The donors say they are seeking nothing more than to give others a second chance for healthy, productive lives.

A spokesman for Gift of Hope, which coordinates organ and tissue donations for northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, said that what the Seven Sisters have done is most likely a first in the nation.

"I can't say for certain. But, without a doubt I can say that it's amazing that Loyola would have seven people who work at the hospital who have that kind of caring, concern and compassion for people who are suffering and waiting for an organ transplant," said spokesman David Bosch.

Charlie Alexander, president of United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), said his organization, which maintains the national organ waiting list, hasn't heard of such an instance, either nationally or internationally.

"We applaud the generosity of living donors and appreciate the life-changing difference they make for those awaiting an organ transplant," Alexander said.

Dr. Paul K. Whelton, MB, MD, MSc, president and CEO of Loyola University Health System, said the Seven Sisters' generosity "is just one of the many instances at Loyola in which our employees demonstrate their commitment to upholding our Catholic-Jesuit tradition of Magis, which challenges us to do more."

More than 110,000 patients are on waiting lists for organ transplants from deceased donors. Most are waiting for kidneys. Patients typically wait for years, and many patients die before organs become available.

Donations from living donors can significantly reduce the wait. However, many patients do not have family members who are medically qualified to donate. But due to the generosity of Good Samaritan donors, Loyola's living-donor program has substantially reduced wait times for such patients.

A successful transplant triples the life expectancy of a kidney patient on dialysis, and dramatically improves the patient's quality of life.

"Dialysis drains your strength and energy. You don't feel like doing much," said James Love, 34, of Westchester, Ill., who suffered kidney failure from sickle cell anemia.

One of the Seven Sisters, Barbara Thomas, donated her kidney to Love on Oct. 22, 2009. "I thank God every day for the chance to go out and toss a ball with my son, or sit and talk with my daughter, and be able to do homework with them," Love said. "That stuff is priceless, and she gave it all back to me."

Thomas, 48, of Brookfield, Ill., is an administrative secretary in Loyola's kidney transplant program. Love is her tenant.

The six other Loyola Sisters are:

•Cristina Lamb, 46, a credentialing coordinator at Loyola, who donated to Robert Rylko, 22, of Rockford, Ill., on March 18, 2010. Lamb lives in Melrose Park, Ill.

•Dr. Susan Hou, medical director of Loyola's Renal Transplant Program, who donated to one of her patients, Hermelinda Guiterrez, in 2002. Hou lives in River Forest, Ill.

•Jodi Tamen, 47, a dental hygienist at Loyola. Her kidney was removed at Loyola and flown to California to G. Murray Thomas, on April 8, 2010. Tamen lives in West Frankfort, Ill. Thomas is a poet and author of the soon-to-be published book, "My Kidney Just Arrived."

•Dorothy Jambrosek, 46, administrative director of the Graduate Medical Education Program at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. She donated to a 36-year-old Chicago-area resident she had never met. Jambrosek lives in Woodridge, Ill.

•Jane Thomas, 47, a registered nurse in Loyola's Lung Transplant Program, who donated to Aaron Green, 38, of Bellwood, Ill., on Aug.12, 2010. Thomas lives in Villa Park, Ill.

•Cynthia Blakemore, 58, manager of Loyola's Clinical Laboratory Department. Her kidney was removed at Loyola and donated to New York State resident Memerto Asuncion, 47, on Sept. 2, 2010. Blakemore lives in Montgomery, Ill.

As the only academic medical center in the Chicago suburbs, Loyola offers kidney transplant patients world-class care with outstanding outcomes. Loyola has performed nearly 1,600 kidney transplants, and has one of the lowest rejection rates in the country. From 2000 to 2010, nearly 99 percent of Loyola's living-donor kidney transplant patients and 93 percent of its deceased-donor recipients reached the one-year mark free of any acute rejection episodes.

Living-donor surgery at Loyola is performed laparoscopically, which reduces the average donor hospital stay to only two to three days. Donors return to a normal lifestyle after an initial healing period of four-to-eight weeks. Living donors receive frequent follow-up care for two years after surgery.

Each kidney transplant patient is assigned a care team that includes a transplant surgeon, urologist, transplant coordinator, anesthesiologist, urology nurse/nurse practitioner, social worker, financial coordinator, pharmacist, psychologist, nutritionist, chaplain, rehab staff and home-care nurse.

Loyola's organ transplantation program brings together heart, lung, heart/lung, kidney and liver transplantation teams. The multidisciplinary program provides comprehensive care that focuses on the whole person: mind, body and spirit. True to its mission, Loyola takes on complex cases that other programs may be unwilling to accept.

Source: Loyola University Medical Center