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posted by martyb on Monday November 30 2020, @03:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the acts-of-kindness dept.

She could have stopped at saving her husband. Instead they joined a 5-way kidney swap.:

When Tara Berliski learned her husband needed a kidney, she did what she said any spouse would do: She offered him her own. And they were a match. But John "HB" Berliski, it turns out, could match with just about anyone.

John Berliski has type AB blood, which makes him a universal recipient.

[...] "AB blood types can receive from any donor. And we have AB donors as well, but they're very hard to match because they can only give to AB patients," said Valerie Jackson, the living donor coordinator at Houston Methodist hospital. "So when John said, 'Yes, I'll go ahead and help whomever,' because of the power of his to receive from anybody, we were really able to move people who were not able to get moved and match up for years."

According to npr:

Justin Barrow, a 40-year-old youth pastor in Longville, La., has a rare kidney disorder, and had a transplant when he was 15; it was beginning to falter. A cousin offered to donate their kidney, but doctors said it wasn't a good match. A kidney from Tara Berliski would be.

Returning to our original story:

[...] Paula Gerrick, 51, had signed up as a potential donor for her sister years ago. Like John Berliski, she is type AB. But while that blood type works well for recipients, it's more limiting for donors — they can only give to other AB recipients. So despite wanting to save her sister, Diane Poenitzsch, they weren't a match. And Poenitzsch lingered on the donor list, from January 2017 until this month. Her kidney was the final organ in the transplant chain, which necessitated 10 surgeries over two days.

[...] But it wasn't just Barrow she helped. The Berliskis were the missing pieces needed to set off a chain reaction: Barrow's cousin, Samantha Barrow, donated a kidney to Misael Gonzalez. Gonzalez's mother, Teresa Salcedo, who matched her son, but entered the swap so he could find a donor with a younger kidney, donated to Debra Lewing. Lewing's boss, Dawn Thomas, first learned of Lewing's failing kidney health at the beginning of the pandemic when Lewing requested to work from home because she was at-risk. "If you need a kidney, just take one of mine," Thomas told her employee then. When they weren't a match, they entered the swap program; Thomas donated to Diane Poenitzsch.

And Poenitzsch's sister Gerik, with the AB blood rounded out the circle, donating to John Berliski.


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  • (Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @03:12PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @03:12PM (#1082380)

    Why do we never hear about these stories?

    Kidney donation and the power of prayer: How a Sacramento woman's life was saved by a stranger
    The power of prayer and a stranger's generosity saved five different lives

    Kiara Harris was on dialysis for eight years. During that time, she also suffered from lupus, a stroke and other medical complications. She kept the faith and says the power of prayer, and the generosity from a complete stranger, saved her life.

    "At Unity of Sacramento, the prayer chaplains there would have prayer retreats just to pray for me." Harris said, adding she remembers how hard her friends, family, and church prayed for a miracle. "There's people who decide that this is too much and they stop going. Their life is over typically within a week or two."

    A stranger's donation ultimately saved her life. Harris says she would never have made it to that point without her unwavering faith.

    "I could not have done it," Harris said. "You can't carry that weight without faith, without believing that your day is going to come. Never give up, Never give up. Never believe it when they say there's a one in a million shot for you. We're not going to be able to find a match for you."

    • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:22PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:22PM (#1082413)

      Why is this modded Flamebait? 70 million Christians voted for Trump this year - let that sink in.

      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:46PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:46PM (#1082423)

        Because this is (at least nominally) a science site? And anecdote is not data? (Or, rather, it's very poor data -- just one data point in this instance.)

        Coincidences happen every day. In this case, someone praying happened to line up with someone recovering from illness. In the vast majority of cases of serious illness, it doesn't matter how many people are praying for you.

        There have been actual studies on this. There's no evidence of intercessory prayer having a provable effect in randomized control trials.

        All of that said, "flamebait" isn't really the best mod for this. "Off topic" would have been better. Still, it deserves a downmod.

        • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday November 30 2020, @06:38PM

          by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 30 2020, @06:38PM (#1082473) Homepage Journal

          It's at least conceivable that having a wide enough prayer network operating might persuade some of those praying to sign up to donate kidneys.

          Probably not the mechanism the author intended, of course.

        • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @06:52PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @06:52PM (#1082482)

          From the Soylentnews About page: "We are a volunteer-powered news aggregation site that deliver articles about technology, science, and general interest." (bold added)

          Surely the comment fits within "general interest", and it was on-topic as regards to kidney donation.

          It was just downvoted due to the reflexive leftist anti-Christianity hate that suffuses this site.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:54PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:54PM (#1082429)

        > 70 million Christians voted for Trump this year

        I keep praying that God will rapture them out of here so we can get on with forming a rational world order. I mean, isn't that what He promised us?

        ---
        And to get back on topic... my wife won't even consent to a three-way.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:23PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:23PM (#1082437)

          You have to do it yourself. Go to where they congregate.

  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday November 30 2020, @03:19PM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 30 2020, @03:19PM (#1082385) Journal

    We often read of the doctors and medical staff performing heroic feats to save lives. It's the behind-the-scenes logistics that everyone takes for granted. Doctors alone can't do a whole lot. The coordination behind this sort of thing is amazing.

    • (Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:17PM (#1082409)

      Not just medical staff, hermit crabs too. Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1dnocPQXDQ [youtube.com]

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @09:10PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @09:10PM (#1082548)

      Also keep in mind that anyone involved up to the second they are knocked out can revoke consent. So it isn't just the original swaps they have to consider, but the various backup plans for when people do revoke consent (it happens more than you'd think even after factoring this note in).

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:36AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:36AM (#1082708)

        I'll donate a kidney... Oh you need a kidney? Maybe I'll donate a turd instead. There you go.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:49PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @04:49PM (#1082426)

    ... doesn't get a kidney?

    In all seriousness, this is awesome. But "five-way kidney swap" somehow immediately put an image of a sort of musical chairs thing in my head.

    • (Score: 1) by dioxide on Monday November 30 2020, @05:10PM (3 children)

      by dioxide (7248) on Monday November 30 2020, @05:10PM (#1082432)

      The original healthy donor with 2 kidneys doesn't get a replacement, they're just down 1 kidney.

      dioxide

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:39PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:39PM (#1082449)

        Tara Berliski, Paula Gerrick, Samantha Barrow, Teresa Salcedo and Dawn Thomas are all down a kidney. It wasn't a five way kidney swap, it was a five way donor swap. Five individual donors helping five patients. It's just that the kidneys they donated didn't go to the person they wanted to help, they went to someone else who was a better match. In return, their friend/partner also got a kidney that was a better match.

        • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday November 30 2020, @06:40PM (1 child)

          by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Monday November 30 2020, @06:40PM (#1082475) Homepage Journal

          They use networks and data bases to find these n-way donor swaps.

          -- hendrik

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:37AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:37AM (#1082709)

            Unpossible I can't believe it. It is luck or prayer that's all there is to say.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @05:30PM (#1082442)

    The ball-n-chain would have ripped out the prison-inmate's good kidney and thrown it out the window. Anything to get even.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @07:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 30 2020, @07:28PM (#1082495)

    Diabetes is the most common cause of ESRD. High blood pressure is the second most common cause of ESRD
    https://www.kidneyfund.org/kidney-disease/kidney-failure/ [kidneyfund.org]

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by inertnet on Monday November 30 2020, @10:26PM (2 children)

    by inertnet (4071) on Monday November 30 2020, @10:26PM (#1082588) Journal

    Friends of mine did the same. Wife needed a kidney, husband became donor. Next they had to wait a couple of years for a group of matching donors + recipients to be formed by a team of specialists. At their first attempt one of the donors pulled out at the last minute. The second attempt succeeded almost a year ago. Donors got operated in the morning, recipients received their new kidneys in the afternoon, kidneys were transported by helicopter where necessary. At least 3 hospitals were involved that I know of, up to 275 km apart. Recipients got transport arranged by 'the system', but donors had to provide their own transport to and from the hospital, which was my part. During the ride I put the donor at ease with jokes like: "at least your kidney gets to fly in an helicopter".

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:39AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:39AM (#1082711)

      Remind me never to get in a helicopter with you.

      • (Score: 2) by kazzie on Tuesday December 01 2020, @11:43AM

        by kazzie (5309) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 01 2020, @11:43AM (#1082783)

        How about just your kidney?

  • (Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Tuesday December 01 2020, @04:28AM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday December 01 2020, @04:28AM (#1082693) Journal
    This is a great example of a combinatorial market [wikipedia.org]. Here, the market appears at first glance to be deceptively simple. It just consists of people who need kidneys and people willing to donate kidneys. The naive solution would be to just give the kidney from the willing donor to the willing recipient. Of course, as the story says, the catch is compatibility.

    Here, we could have just matched the wife with the husband and thus, only one donor would have received a kidney. By this elaborate chain of combinatorial matching, five lives are saved instead of just one.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @05:41AM (#1082712)

      You missed a 3rd option. The become surgically joined into a human caterpillar thereby sharing 2 kidneys between 4.

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