|
Retired Pocatello man advocates for organ donations 
Edward Berrett, a lawyer, was the recipient of a donated kidney last June. Journal photo by Doug Lindley |
By John O'Connell - Journal Writer POCATELLO - A gift from a stranger freed Ed Berrett from long hours spent hooked to a machine. Berrett sat four hours a day, three days a week while undergoing dialysis. The 75-year-old Pocatello attorney said that is time he's now free to spend playing an occasional round of golf or floating the Snake River, hauling in trout on a fly rod. Life changed quickly for the better when Berrett got a phone call at 1:30 p.m. June 30. Less than five hours later, Berrett was on an operating table at a Salt Lake City Hospital getting a functional kidney. He knows little about his benefactor, except that the man was 62, died in a car crash and saved two other lives because he had consented to be an organ donor. Berrett is now an advocate for organ donation and hopes others will see how much his life has improved since his operation and will agree to be organ donors. "A kidney does a better job than dialysis cleaning your system. I feel better than I have felt for three or four years," Berrett said. "For the recipients, it could be a matter of life and death and usually is. There are a lot of people passing away waiting for an organ." It's now easier than ever to become an organ donor, said Ben Dieterle, spokesman for Intermountain Donor Services, a Salt Lake City-based organ placement service which covers southern Idaho. Before the Idaho Donor Registry was established in July, people had to wait to renew their driver's licenses before they could register to be organ donors. Also, officials could not access a list of organ donors. They had to check driver's licenses. The registry allows people to consent to be organ donors at any time by calling 1-866-yesidaho or go online to www.yesidaho.org. In Idaho, Dieterle said 55 percent of people of driving age are registered organ donors, although 90 percent of Idahoans surveyed said they support organ donation. Minors can register, but parental consent is required at the time of donation. Since Utah established a registry in the summer of 2001, Dieterle said the percentage of people who consented to be donors has increased from 60 percent to 75 percent. "We're confident we can do the same thing in Idaho," Dieterle said. Dieterle said a single donor can save up to nine lives with organs and help several other people with tissue donations. Organ donors are individuals who have experienced head trauma and been kept alive on respirators. Tissue donations, which include skin, bone marrow and heart valves, can be frozen and have a shelf life of up to five years. "There is such a shortage," Dieterle said. "Some people are afraid if they are (registered) donors they won't get the best medical care. Nothing could be further from the truth." Dieterle said in Utah and southern Idaho, the area covered by Intermountain Donor Services, there are 325 people awaiting an organ transplant, and 8 to 10 percent of them die while waiting. Berrett was told he would probably have to wait between one and two years to get a kidney. He got his after a three-month wait. "It's been such a blessing. I feel like I have a real obligation to the people who make their donations because I'm healthier because of it," Berrett said. "I talked to a man from Idaho Falls who had a heart transplant 10 years ago. He's still fully active, and he's my age, too." The waiting list was too long for Laura Mackay, of Rupert. Doctors told Mackay she needed a double lung transplant in 1999. In the spring of 2000, Mackay was no longer capable of living alone and went to live with her sister, whose home was close to her doctors at the University of Utah Hospital. Mackay died at age 37 from pulmonary fibrosis, a disease which caused her lungs to fill with fluid and scar tissue. Her sister-in-law, Barbara Mackay, said on several occasions, doctors thought they had found a match, but each time they relayed bad news. "It was pretty much impossible for her to walk up and down a flight of stairs. At the end of her life, when she walked to the bathroom and back, she'd cough for a long time," Barbara Mackay said. "Here was this 37-year-old lady who had this incredible life. She was such a warm and witty person, and she had a love of life. She passed away while waiting (for an organ) one night." Although Laura Mackay didn't get healthy lungs in time, doctors managed to use the corneas of her eyes to help someone else see. "For me, before this happened, you heard about organ donation, and you knew it was something on your driver's license, but it was never something that was utmost on your mind," Barbara Mackay said. "I think there are a lot of people who if they were asked to be an organ donor, they'd say, 'Yeah, I'll do that,' but they haven't thought much about signing up. "I would love to think that if something happened to me, my husband or my children, maybe out of that particular tragedy, maybe someone else's life could be saved." John O'Connell covers courts, law enforcement and local government for the Journal. He can be reached by calling 239-3128 or by e-mail at joconnell@journalnet.com.
|
