500th transplant renews life
Two weeks after Dick Wente became the 500th person to receive a transplant in Fargo, he described another set of numbers. "When people ask me today how I feel on a scale of one to 10 (10 being best), my answer is 15. And some days it's even 26," says Dick, a farmer from Donnelly, Minn. "I can't believe how much better I feel, and my outlook on life is so much happier."
Photo: Dick Wente, Donnelly, Minn., has a new outlook on life after his kidney transplant.
Like many people with kidney failure, Dick had grown accustomed to dialysis – the three-time-a-week process that mechanically performs the job of healthy kidneys. "I'd be out the door for my dialysis at 5:30 in the morning and by 9:30 was done. I planned it so I still had time for farm work, but the tiredness really takes its toll. You're zapped of energy," says Dick, who commuted to MeritCare Dialysis Center in Morris, Minn. "As my wife, Linda, will tell you, I spent an awful lot of evenings sleeping in the chair. I'm just grateful to family and friends who helped out with chores."
Dick's two-and-a-half year dialysis routine changed dramatically on March 13, when Dr. Bhargav Mistry, board-certified transplant surgeon at MeritCare, performed a life-changing transplant. In addition to being the 500th in Fargo, Dick's transplant was significant for another reason: it was the second "double-kidney" transplant in the region. MeritCare Transplant Services is one of few programs in the upper Midwest to offer this recently developed technique.
Why double-kidney?
Instead of receiving a single kidney – the standard type of transplant surgery, Dick received two kidneys from one deceased donor. One kidney alone did not meet specific donation criteria, but the two together could perform well. Dr. Mistry sees great potential for this innovation. "In the past, a less-than perfect kidney would have been deemed unusable, but now we can take two less-than-perfect kidneys from the same donor and together they meet the recipient's needs," he says. "This new technique allows us to continue to achieve excellent outcomes, plus we can reduce waiting times for the recipients."
Dick waited 14 months for his double-kidney transplant, whereas the waiting time for a single suitable kidney could have stretched to several years. He also appreciated the availability of the services in Fargo. "Having relations and friends close by really helps when you're going through something like this," he says. "It's quite an involved process."
"I can't believe how much better I feel, and my outlook on life is so much happier."
Dick Wente
And emotional, too. "I don't know who my organ donor was, but I sure would like to say 'thank you,'" says Dick in a quiet voice. "My life will be longer and better because of that one person's decision to become an organ donor. That was one super person."
To learn more about MeritCare Transplant Services call (701) 234-6715 or (800) 437-4010 or visit meritcare.com (keyword: transplant).
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