Articles Book III - Pg 1300-1479 (Reunions etc) - triadoption

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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5,1984
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.. . By CAROL ELHOD
INCE ~IER kidney problems lirst be
,!when she was (I. Mary Carol Shea r'as
. undergone more medical procedures lhnn
most people do in a lifetime - from
'i~iopsies to dialysis alter kidncy failure set
in. . .
-:; Physicians said lhat a transplant, prcl.
I . irtibly through donalion lrom a close rela.
I tiye, was her only hope lor a normal lilc,
but lhere was one big problem.
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, ... hlary Carol wns adopted from the
Suemma Coleman Agency when she was 12
.:days old. Success rates lor transplants from
; cadaver kidneys, her parents were lold, run
I aboul' 60 percent, bul are almost 100 per
: ,cent lrom close relalives. Roy and Beverly
: Stlca knew almost nolhing nbout the wom-
! nn who had given birth to their daughter.
: . ,;. This is the story ol lhe search and of
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what lollowed. Most of all, it is about
~nsc!lishnrs and bravery and love.
i ' ' : In August 1982, Beverly Stlea nskcd Dr.
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Charles
j
B. Carter, hlnry Cnrol's nephrolo
: gisl, to contact the Suemmn Coleman agen .
cy to get the ndoplion records opened.
, - .: Agcncy tlireclor Eilcrn Sanner says
she's Itad nlmost no problem gelling the
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necessary court order, even il a request is
made for a nonmedical renson.
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: IF A LONG TlhlE has elapsed belwccn
! ..lhc birlh and the search, finding natural
mothers can be almost impossible because
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1 America's population is mobile. Or. the
: young women may have used lnlsc names
: when they enlered whal was Illen a rcsi.
I denlinl maternity home.
!. -. Eileen round hlnry Carol's birlh molhcr
lhrough n relative nnd wrote her a letter. 111
: il. she l~riclly stalcd there was n mcdicnl
, emergency nnd nskcd lor n relurn phone
chll. Whcn lhc birth n~olllcr cornplir!d. ICi.
ranged lor the 33.ycarold woman lo see a
urologist in her homclown and tried to find
out how the surgery could be paid lor.
hfcdicnid usually covers the donor. Eileen
learned.
Becausc the Sheas didn't wan1 their
daughtcr having her hopes built up lor the
lilesnving surgery only to be dashed later,
lhcv elected no1 to tell her what they were
doiig.
"I thought I was silting on a tirncbomb."
says Beverly. "I wanted to share il with her
so much." They had always been open wilh
her nbout everything - including the lac1
that she was adopled.
THE SHEAS had talked to hlnry Carol in
generalities nbout transplants. however.
Concerned nboul a live person having to
give up a kidney lor her. she had informed
her pnrcnts .she was only interested in a
cadaver kidncy.
"Roy and I Ihoughl. 'Oh, no!'"
Wailing to hcnr whelher the birth molh
cr would consider donating a kidncy was
almost unbenrablc lor lhe Sheas, who, day
by day. saw their daughter's condition
gelling worse.
Almost lour months went by between
the beginning of the search and the day
Beverly Shen learned lhat the birth mother,
whose name. she found out, is hlnrsha, had
indced visited the urologist - in South
Bend. hcr hometown.
"I knew what 1 was going lo do. " says
hfarsha, "l~ut I had arrangements lo mako.
I didn't want lo inlcrlere with this little
girl's lilc" by saying no.
Mnrsho, who has never married and
supports herself. was worried nboul the
insurance and about being grnnted time ofl
lrorl~ her job. "Thry had no policy on
kitlrlcy tlonor tri~nsplnnls" and insislcd sllc
wo~rltl hnvc lo lakr prrsoni~l 1c;lvc lor the
surgery nntl recl~l~cralior~.
Icen lold her whnl lhr prol~letr~ was.
i i~roilcl~(!d 1. Iril~~sl~lnnl itlen nnd inlor~ncd
! hcr she hild lhc ril:l~t lo say "no."
Vinnlly. llcr l~oss si~id she co111tl have
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-' I!everly wrote in lhe diary sl~~'d IIPPII two wtac!ks i11 full pi~y and four wccks nt 65
! keeping. "hlrs. Sai~t~cr said she got gousc percent ol lull pi~y. Sllc nddcrl her vncnlion
I IIUIII~IS WIICII sI~r!.\\'as Ii~lking lo her (~IIP days on lol) ol thal. .
1 ., l)irll~ rnotherl. hlc, loo. It's 1111 I ci1n Ihink
I nbolrl."
B 1.001) '1'15S'I'S in So1rl11 IJc*~ltl i~lrl~cntc,tl 11
No1 surpri?ingly, lhr birlh motl~cr
nli~lch, ilut hlnrshn was asked lo rllcrk
11;ltl
I luls ol qt~c.slions. And physicin~ls wol~ltl
illlo hlr~ll~orlist llospilnl hrr~ lor i~dtlilio~~al
nccrl lo l(*sl hrr In scc8 wl~r~ll~cr llcr Icsls. IJr~vcrly drcirlr~d lhal wi~s n 1:ood li~nc
kldncys wcrr funclioning wrll nntl wl~elllcr
lo ;lrrilllge n li~cc-lofacc nltarling.
Il~rny wc-rrl likcly lo be ;~cccl~lcd by hlary
\Vhc-n sht! ci~llvcl lhc I~irlh n~oll~cr, she
! Carol's body.
\v;ls rclicvcd to hcnr ;I wilrnm and fricntlly