LW_0815

M
AUGUST 15, 2019
WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 3
A stranger’s kindness; a new lease on life
SUPINO
FROM PAGE 1
Her surgery is scheduled for
Wednesday, Aug. 28.
The kidney’s main function is
to filter and remove waste, minerals
and fluid from the blood
by producing urine. We have
two, but it appears only one is
needed and the second can be
donated. When kidneys lose
this filtering ability, harmful
levels of fluid and waste accumulate
in the body, which can
raise blood pressure and result
in kidney failure. The so-called
end-stage renal disease occurs
when the kidneys have lost
about 90 percent of their ability
to function normally.
The history of kidney transplantation
is one of unsuccessful
setbacks, but also of
perseverance and pioneering
spirit, according to the U.S.
National Library of Medicine.
In 1939, the first transplantation
from a deceased human
donor was done by Dr. Y urii
V oronoy in the Soviet Union.
The patient survived for only a
few days, and the organ never
worked because the blood types
were mismatched.
Then in 1954, a milestone was
made with the first long-term successful
kidney transplantation by
Dr. Joseph Murray of Peter B ent
B righam Hospital, now B righam
& Women’s Hospital in B oston.
The transplantation was done between
twins.
For his efforts, Murray received
the Nobel Prize in medicine
in 1990.
For Supino, the transplant
is familiar territory. At 15, she
discovered her kidney problems.
While a high school student,
a biopsy revealed there
was something wrong with the
filtering system in her kidney.
“I hung onto that kidney for
nearly a decade because I slowed
the disease with medication and
didn’t even need dialysis,” she recalled.
At age 23 , she underwent
a successful kidney transplant at
Massachusetts General Hospital
and life was good, she said.
The new kidney worked
well for 30 years. B ut that all
changed in the summer of 2012
when at her Y ork, Maine vacation
home, she couldn’t walk a
straight line and was unable to
swallow pills.
“I thought I had Lyme disease,”
she said. “I was throwing
up and my head was hurting.
I was rushed to the ER at a
hospital in Y ork, and a CT
scan showed I had a serious
problem. I was rushed to Mass.
General for emergency brain
surgery and spent 45 days in the
new Y awkey cancer treatment
building.”
While the surgery and a combination
of chemotherapy and
radiation removed the tumors,
making her cancer-free, the one
drawback was she had to stop
taking the drugs to keep her
transplanted kidney in top shape.
“Once I had the brain surgery,
I had to stop my drugs to keep
my transplanted kidney going,
so I had to let the one kidney
go,” she said.
Within eight months, Supino
was on dialysis. The time consuming
process removes waste,
salt and extra water to prevent
them from building up in the
body and keeping a safe level of
certain chemicals in your blood,
such as potassium, sodium and
bicarbonate. She is at a Wakefield
clinic four times a week for about
three hours each day.
She’s been cleared for a
second transplant and in April
began the search for a donor.
“My doctors told me to let
the world know I need a kidney
and that’s why I am shaking all
the trees on social media and
pounding the pavement to get
the word out,” she said.
Today, there are more than
93 ,000 people on the kidney transplant
waiting list and that number
is growing, according to the
Living Kidney Donors Network.
Patients are prioritized by
how long they’ve been on the
waiting list, their blood type,
immune system activity and
other factors. About 80 percent
of the people on the waiting
list are on kidney dialysis. The
longer a person is on dialysis
and has to wait for a transplant,
the short and long term success
rates are negatively affected.
On average, receiving a kidney
transplant can double someone’s
life expectancy.
While 80 percent of
Amercians say they would be
an organ and tissue donor, only
about 35 percent designate
themselves as donors on their
driver’s licenses or on state
donor registries. For those who
don’t designate themselves as
a donor, the decision to donate
rests with their families who
can just as easily deny rather
than permit the hospital’s request
to have their loved one’s
organs donated.
A staggering 5,000 people die
every year waiting for a kidney
transplant and another 5,000 are
taken off the list because they
are no longer healthy enough to
receive one.
For Supino, it’s a life-altering
dream come through.
“I am so grateful,” she said.
“I’ve been blessed twice.”
arianne S u p ino
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