Organ donations bring families tighter

From left, Kim Sun-tae, Park Yoon-tae and Lee Myeong-rok pose at Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital where they each received an organ donation from a family member. / Courtesy of Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital

By Noh Hyun-gi

As of Thursday, 29,317 people were on the waiting list for an organ donation according to the Korean Network for Organ Sharing. Yet the number of donors is shy of 3,400. The shortage plus the higher chance of finding a match with a family member make relatives the likely donor for someone fighting for their life.

Donations from children, spouses and parents often bring the families closer as they overcome the disheartening situation together.

The following are stories of three patients who got a second chance through ultimate acts of altruism from family members. — ED

1) Daughter’s story

It started like any other working day for Lee Myeong-rok on Oct. 1, 2011.

The 55-year sushi restaurant owner in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province was buying fish at a morning market in Incheon. Suddenly, he felt sharp pain just below his right chest and was gasping.

Lee went home, half thinking that the pain would go away, if he got some rest. When it didn’t, he called his two daughters — Lee Ji-yoon, 29, and Lee Ji-yong, 28. The two rushed home and took him to the hospital.

Lee thought that he could go home soon but two days later he found himself still in a hospital room with seven other patients and their caregivers.

With little warning, his doctor walked in and announced; “You have Stage 3 liver cancer.” He was told that there was nothing that could be done in that hospital.

The daughters broke into inconsolable tears, but the former taxi driver was adamant; “I was just embarrassed that the doctor blurted out my condition in front of everyone,” Lee told The Korea Times.

Lee was transferred to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital where, after a series of successful trans-arterial chemoembolization sessions, the new doctor advised a partial liver transplant from one of his children, but he refused.

“I didn’t want to be the reason for my young daughters to go under the knife,” Lee said.

A week later, the two women came back with news; they had visited the doctor without the parents’ knowledge to get tested. They both qualified as donors.

The father was speechless. “They had even worked up the schedule. The older one decided that she will donate as she can take time off from work. The younger one who runs a shop and takes classes at night would drive the two between the hospital and home.”

The donor was not available for an interview but her sister described the eight hours of operation on Jan 31 as “the most terrifying and draining hours of my life.”

“We could not accept that dad had cancer. Then it was more difficult for us because he refused to get the surgery. So we took the matter into our own hands,” she said.

Indeed, the operation was so successful that it took much less than the average operation time of 12 hours. In a week, the lucky father was on his feet, on his way to recovery.

“We sometimes compare our scars. It’s strange and moving to know that I have a part of my daughter’s organ,” he said. “This reminded me that family is all I really have; they will stand by me when I am sick and in pain.”

He still makes the daily visit to the fish market with his wife. “This is my second chance at life, and my daughter gave it to me.”

2) Mother ends son’s malady from military

Kim Sun-tae, 34, remembers the day as a corporal in the military. After a weekly clean up of the barracks, he felt chills running through his body. He wrapped himself in blankets and took a nap.

He woke up four days later. The army surgeon said he went through four batches of IV. His urine was dark brown, so Kim submitted to undergo a medical review at the military hospital. The center insisted that everything was normal. However, he had the symptoms of nephritis or inflammation of the kidneys.

Kim finished his service on October 2001, but his fight with his malfunctioning organ had just begun.

A native of Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, Kim spent the next 10 years visiting hospitals. When he ended up in the tertiary care unit in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Kim was ready to give up.

“I went through about six dialyses. I was exhausted,” Kim said. Dialysis is a time-consuming medical process in which a tube is connected to the patient to filter out excess water, salt and waste from the blood, temporarily performing the function of the kidney.

So when his doctor said it was either another series of dialyses or a kidney transplant, Kim asked for a week to think about it.

“I asked if an artificial kidney was available but the doctor said they hadn’t been invented yet.”

Troubled, he consulted his mother Park Mae-wha, 55, who responded quickly “Let’s go with me.”

For Park, sacrificing a body part for her son was simply the natural thing to do. But for Kim it was not so easy. “I didn’t want to do it. It was going to be yet another scar I was going to give to my mother,” Kim said.

His younger sister who is recently married and lives in another city called to say she would get tested if their mother was not a match. “I told her that I would go through dialysis if my mother did not qualify as a donor,” said.

Fortunately, the surgery on Feb 22 was a success. Park was discharged in a week, Kim in a month.

“I feel like a baby with the new kidney. There are a lot of things I have to watch out for but I take much better care of myself than I did before. I wanted to give up. But now, I got a second chance at life and I am not letting it go,” Kim said.

So far, his monthly tests shows his creatinine clearance rate, an indicator of kidney function, is higher than desired, yet the doctor believes it will get better with time. “My mom’s kidney is a little bit small for me but I am not too worried.”

Due to concerns of immune responses, the two now live separately.

3) The day son-in-law became son

Park Yoon-tae, 63, thought things were getting better, in a way. He had been diagnosed with fatty liver disease during a regular health check-up five years ago.

The condition took a textbook path and worsened into hepatitis B, then finally cirrhosis. In the last stage, fibrosis and lumps replace normal liver tissue, gradually shutting down the organ.

The father of three had been on cirrhosis medication for years so when he went in for a CT scan on Jan. 25, he was confident that his disease was under control.

On the contrary, it had developed into cancer. At the news, Park packed his bag and headed to Mt. Jiri in South Gyeongsang Province.

“I wish the doctor had told us what was happening. I hadn’t expected it at all. I don’t understand why we couldn’t work tighter to manage my illness,” recalled Park.

For three days he collected a half bag of mistletoe growing on cedars, once popular for anti-cancer properties. “I thought I’d just spend my remaining days in the woods instead of suffering through a series of surgeries.”

But his aging body couldn’t keep up in the woods. Feeling defeated Park went back to St. Mary’s Hospital where the medical staffed suggested getting a transplant.

When he got home to Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province- his wife had notified his children and surprisingly, his second son-in-law, Kim Sung-ho was the first to call.

“I will do it. Male donors are preferable for partial liver transplants and I am healthy,” said the 35-year-old.

Park broke into tears as he recalled the following events to this reporter. Park refused, and then insisted that Kim consult his parents.

“My in-laws were so generous. They told his son that if he was not a match, they would get tested to be possible donors.” Park spoke while crying. “Not many people can offer such a thing to others.”

Kim was inflexible about the experience. “It wasn’t anything extraordinary. He needed new liver tissue, and I was a viable donor. I didn’t think much about the decision.”

Kim had studied pharmacy at Seoul National University and he visited Park’s house with folders full of research material.

“He had looked into everything about the operation and even profiled the surgeons to pick the best one,” Park said.

The surgery took place on April 3. Things did not go so smoothly for Park. His liver function measures were too high for the following five weeks.

“There were times when I was too sick and stressed after the surgery that I wanted to give up and escape the hospital. I think I would have done that had I received a stranger’s liver,” Park said.

Reminding himself of the sacrifice Kim had made, Park endured and eventually he was discharged on May 2 and is now healthy and living at home.