TRIO Chapter Activity Report
San Francisco Bay Chapter - April 2007
The SF Bay TRIO Chapter had a particularly eventful meeting
and very large
turnout in March when our guest speaker was Eric de Leon, a
local liver transplant
recipient and father of six, who opted to go to China at his
own expense for a new liver after thelocal transplant hospitals dropped
him from the list due to the discovery of liver cancer. His
donor apparently was a young
man executed for drug smuggling.
We watched an assortment of reports from CNN and other
national media regarding Eric's transplant and then had a
good deal of continuing discussion regarding both tthe ethical issues
regarding such a decision as well as a fascinating overview
of what is involved logistically in undertaking something like
this. (See our chapter website for more articles on this.)
Frankly, I was astounded how many of our members had
experience with friends/relatives going overseas for non-transplant
related surgeries. Medical care has apparently gone global
while I was not watching, and if other surgeries are being performed
for Americans overseas, one must figure that transplantation will
ultimately be in the mix as well. Eric looked
into the Phillipines, India and China before opting for a US-trained
surgeon operating at a hospital in Shanghai. His experience
with the first two countries indicated that this international organ
marketing arena is clearly a case of buyer beware. He felt
that the Chinese were far ahead of the other countries in terms of
professionalism and honesty. I was sorry that his appearance
came before the Wall Street Journal article came out concerning
transplant tourism, the financial reasons behind the desire for Chinese
hospitals to perform these transplants, and the apparent recent
modifications in the rules surrounding them.
Speaking retrospectively, Eric indicated he might
have tried a center elsewhere in the United States had he been aware of
the possiblity of going to a center where more livers were
available. (Note the recent TRIO National newsletter item
that the SF Bay Area ranks at the bottom nationally in terms of length
of time waiting for a kidney transplant. Sadly, I suspect
the liver situation is not much better.)
Our April meeting was devoted to support. We have
a number of individuals who have just received transplants, both from
living and deceased donors, as well as a number who are struggling with
rejection issues long after their surgeries. In May, we
welcome a guest physician from UCSF speaking about new issues
surrounding skin cancer and transplant recipients. Given the
recent deaths of two transplant recipients here in the Bay Area from
skin cancer, this is an issue we need to take seriously.
Regards, Steve Okonek/SF Bay Area TRIO prez