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Ten years ago, Heather Randall wagered her kidney in a friendly game of pinochle with best friend Kim Huegel, who suffers from a rare kidney disease. It was a joke and Ms. Randall didn’t think too much about it. Ms. Huegel’s health improved and she went on to have a daughter. Last year, Ms. Huegel took a turn for the worse and began dialysis in December. Two weeks ago, Ms. Randall made good on her bet when the two women underwent transplant surgery at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville. “I always said, ‘I’m not sharing my parts with anyone,’” said Ms....

(AP) Jennifer Duran knows a bit about how challenging life will be for the French woman who got a face transplant. After a kidney transplant at age 13, Duran took "20-something pills a day" to keep her body from rejecting her new organ. The drugs' side effects included facial hair — "not a good thing when you're a 13-year-old girl" — and memory problems that linger to this day. The worst was the warts on one leg and foot, so painful that as a college student she often couldn't walk. But today Duran, 26, is the picture of hope to...

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. (AP) — A killer nurse who murdered at least 29 patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey by injecting them with lethal doses of drugs wants to donate his kidney to save an ailing person's life. Charles Cullen has asked prosecutors to allow him to travel to New York so doctors can perform the surgery, his attorney said Tuesday. Somerset County Deputy Public Defender Johnnie Mask Jr. said prosecutors have agreed to let Cullen undergo the operation in New Jersey, but not travel to New York for it. "I don't know what the objections are" to doing the...

A 13-year-old boy is recuperating at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta after doctors performed a kidney transplant. Edgar Gutierrez underwent surgery Tuesday night, three years after his father violated US immigration law to help his ailing son. His father, Fidelmar Gutierrez, says the family is grateful. The boy had been in limbo since he and his family left Mexico and entered the United States without permission to seek medical help for the boy, who has kidney disease. The family said they could not afford dialysis in Mexico. US law requires hospitals to treat patients with life-threatening illnesses regardless of immigration status...

DENVER -- Doctors who postponed a kidney transplant between two men who met through a private organ donation Web site decided Tuesday to allow the operation to proceed, despite legal and ethical concerns about the surgery. The operation, scheduled for Wednesday, is believed to be the first transplant arranged through a Web site designed to match organ donors with recipients, said Jeremiah Lowney, medical director of MatchingDonors.com, where the two men made contact. Doctors at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center initially postponed the procedure to replace Bob Hickey's kidney as he was in a hospital room with IVs running from his...

I am fowarding on this info to you from my former Spanish teacher from high school. I still remember the day she found out her brother had a disease that required a kidney transplant. She cried in class......it broke my heart so badly. I pray so hard that everything is well with him (the surgery was 2 days ago and I have not heard back from Kathy yet). I wanted to post this on FR in hopes that they may get more funds than initially believed. Let's show her what Freepers stand for. I understand if you do not want...

  Search ScienceDaily:   Find in     For advanced search options, click here.   Subscribe for free email updates.  Ad-Free  Access: Click here to sign up, or log in. Welcome! Home page About this site Awards, reviews Privacy policy News Pages Summaries Headlines News by topic Find stories Science Shop Browse books Magazines Software Contribute Register free Post release Edit profile Review hits Advertise Media kit Traffic stats Contact us     Emailthis story   Printer-friendlyversion   Previousstory   Nextstory   Source:   Stanford University Medical Center (http://www-med.stanford.edu/school/) Date:   Posted 4/24/2002 Stanford Team Prevents Kidney Transplant Rejection Without Drugs STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have discovered a way to transplant kidneys without having the patient remain on a lifelong...

Palestinian Given Israeli Bomb Victim's Kidneys Thu Apr 4,10:10 AM ET JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian woman received the kidneys of an Israeli victim of a suicide attack in a transplant operation Thursday. The victim, Zeev Vidor, died of his wounds a week after the attack by a Palestinian suicide bomber at a hotel in the seaside resort of Netanya as Israelis sat down for a traditional feast at the start of the Jewish Passover holiday. His family allowed his organs to be donated and recipients included Aisha Abu Said, 54, who lives in the Jerusalem suburb of Shuafat. The...