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Tara Lynch
Kidney-Pancreas Transplant Offers New Lease on Life
By Tara Lynch
For 27 years, my life was physically, mentally and socially affected by the many daily challenges of being a diabetic. Thanks to a life-saving donor and the total support of my family, friends and physicians, I have a brand new lease on life.
In 1999, both of my kidneys failed and I was faced with being on a dialysis machine for nine hours every night. At this point in time, I was placed on another transplant center's pancreas/kidney transplant waiting list. After 1½ years, I was informed that the center wouldn't be doing any more pancreas/kidney transplants until they could hire a new surgeon. I was advised to look elsewhere for a transplant program. Fortunately, this advice was to make a miraculous change in my life.
I contacted the transplant division at UCSF, met Dr. Peter Stock and knew instantly that I was "in the right place at the right time." During the six-month waiting period, Vel Garrick, the pancreas/kidney transplant coordinator, treated all my cares, concerns and questions with dignity and made navigating through this complicated process look easy. Of course, when the call came on January 23, 2001, I was stunned. But after speaking with Dr. Stock, I was filled with confidence that this surgery was going to work! The UCSF transplant team was exactly that -- a team! Each member worked at putting me at ease, making sure I understood what the surgery entailed. After the nine-hour surgery, I woke with a feeling I had not experience in years, healthy and strong. I had been given a chance for a new life and I was going to live it with gusto!
My life has changed completely. I am healthy with energy to burn and I am getting married! I am forever thankful to everybody at UCSF who participated and continues to participate in my success. I think about my donor's family on a daily basis. I am forever grateful for their ability to make such a compassionate decision in their time of grief. I dedicate my energies to the continued success of the doctors and transplant program that made all this possible.
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