While testing the brakes on an all-terrain vehicle as part of his occupation, Person crashed, severing the four main tendons and ligaments in his shoulder.

“I was told a break would have been easier to fix,” Person said. “After a month of immobilized healing, it became clear that a total reconstruction would be needed to restore the arm and shoulder function.”

What Person didn’t know was that somewhere, someone who had lost a loved one had donated tissue, making the reconstruction of his shoulder

“I was at home recovering when a postcard arrived in the mail,” Person said.  “Up to this point, the only information I had about the surgery was that it took twice as long as expected.”

The postcard he received told Person that someone donated the tissue that was used to repair his shoulder and “What a gift,” Person said. “I will remember this gift each time I throw a ball, ride a bike or just try to keep up with my active family.”

After less than six months, Person’s rebuilt shoulder is nearly 100 percent back to normal.

“My only limitation is that my fastball is not as fast as it used to be,” Person said.  He can, however, throw a ball with his sons again.

“This may not be a surprise, but I was a full anatomical donor,” Person said. “If something were to happen to me, I plan to pass this gift on to others.”

The fall resulted in a broken tibia, or shin bone. Doctors recommended that she have surgery to repair the bone, as it was not likely to heal well enough on its own. The surgery involved implanting a steel plate against her bone for structural support. Additionally, after finding osteoporosis in the bone during surgery, the doctor chose to also transplant bone grafts from a deceased human donor into Jane’s injured bone to allow it to strengthen over time.

An unfamiliar concept to Jane, she questioned her doctor about the bone tissue transplant.

“I asked the doctor if compatibility studies had been done,” Jane said. “He explained that contrary to organ transplants, it was not necessary.”

The surgery was successful and next Jane began the slow healing process, which involved a walker, physical therapy and new medication to treat her osteoporosis. She could not put weight on the leg for eight weeks while it healed. However, she knew the process could have taken even longer had she not received the bone graft transplant, and she could have encountered other complications.

To Jane’s delight, following her transplant and healing period she has experienced a full recovery and is back to enjoying myriad outdoor activities in Colorado. When she was approached to write a thank-you letter to the family of the donor that provided her bone graft, she jumped at the opportunity.

“It brought tears to my eyes. It was so sweet and poignant to be able to express my appreciation for what their loved one had done and how it improved my life,” said Jane. “My husband has had a corneal transplant, which was very successful.  There was no opportunity at that time to express our thanks, which is why the letter I wrote meant so much to me.”

Jane continues that if she could, she would tell her donor: “my heartfelt thanks. I would feel privileged to donate tissue myself, especially considering the fine example I have benefitted from.”

Courtesy of the Limb Preservation Foundation. Support Woody by following him on his Facebook page.

The team of doctors who gave an Indiana man a new left hand in a transplant Sunday say he could have 70 percent use of it within six months.

Dr. Joseph Kutz and other doctors on the 16-member transplant team said at a news conference Tuesday at Jewish Hospital that Donnie Rickelman’s hand was working well.

Rickelman, who is 36 and from Linton, Ind., is in intensive care after Sunday’s 141/2 hour procedure. He’ll start physical therapy this week and will remain in Louisville to be monitored for three months.

“We are very proud to be a transplant hospital and to give the gift of life,” Jewish President and CEO Marty Bonick said. “In the case of our hand transplant patients, a better life.”

Full article here

It was the holidays in 2005 and Sarah Tomicich was a young professional excited about her new job in the finance department of a large Denver company. Fun-loving and outgoing, Sarah was happy to offer up her talents for the playful “Stupid Human Tricks” competition at the company’s annual year-end party.

Sarah’s trick was a squirm-inducing move she’d been doing since she was a little girl: rising up on her tip toes, she would rotate her feet until her toes were pointing straight behind her body, with her legs still together. But the trick didn’t go smoothly this time.

“My ankle popped; I thought I broke it,” Sarah said. “The pain was so bad. It was horrible.”

During an initial trip to the doctor, Sarah’s injury was misdiagnosed as a sprain. She went home hoping it would heal on its own. For the next several years Sarah tried to deal with the pain, but her ankle was never the same. The injury began to take a serious toll on her active lifestyle: she could no longer do the things she loved, including skiing and running. She would push herself to play team sports like kickball, but be miserable from the pain for days afterwards.

An eventual trip to an ankle specialist revealed what Sarah already had a suspicion of: her injury was much more serious than a sprain. In fact, the peroneal tendon on the outside of her foot was torn, and worse, a large portion of the cartilage on her ankle joint had torn off. Although her tendon was repaired with a surgery, initial attempts to heal the joint were unsuccessful. Sarah had lost too much cartilage, a tissue the body is incapable of reproducing.

Sarah’s doctor suggested treatment with an autograft, whereby bone and cartilage from her own knee would be transplanted into the injured ankle. As luck would have it, by now Sarah was working for one of the nation’s premier tissue banks, AlloSource. Here she had become aware of the tissue transplantation process. Sarah knew that although frequently used to treat injuries, autografts could lead to other complications: in her case the potential for infection in her healthy knee, a slower recovery from two surgeries and more.

Sarah urged her doctor to consider an allograft transplant, a gift of life from a deceased donor. The decision was made to use one of the newer allografts available thanks to new science: juvenile cartilage. These grafts, bravely donated by the families of donors just one month to 12 years old, had been found to stimulate new cartilage growth when implanted with stem cells.

Following her tissue transplant, Sarah’s results have been miraculous. After a final surgery in December 2010, her doctors found that cartilage is indeed regenerating in Sarah’s ankle.

“It’s fascinating to see this cartilage re-growing,” Sarah said. And she is able to feel the benefits already. “I can ski again and it doesn’t hurt. I’ve started to wear high heels again; I haven’t worn high heels for years! It feels really good.”

Her work at a tissue bank has heightened Sarah’s respect for her second chance at a healthy life: “I have had the opportunity to see it from the perspective that everyone should see it from; I have interacted with donor families and really comprehend that this is a gift of life that somebody else gave to me because they lost their own.”

Sarah also reports a stronger kinship with her colleagues at AlloSource, who work 24/7 to process donated human tissue into allografts used for a host of surgical applications around the country.

“Processing these allografts is tedious and includes a lot of hard work. I’ve been able to thank the techs I work with for what they do every day.”

“The event served a special purpose this year, providing an opportunity for state lawmakers to meet those who have received a second chance at life through organ donation. These same lawmakers will continue to address the controversy over state Republicans decision to cut Medicaid funds to those in need of life saving transplants.” Read the full article here.

Debby, a 50-year-old senior human resources generalist from Lebanon, IN, had for several of years suffered from a degenerative arthritic condition in her spine that resulted in constant neck pain. While she saw a chiropractor weekly and the therapy would provide momentary relief, nothing fully eradicated the problem.

As her condition progressed her back pain began taking a greater toll on her body. “I was having numbness in my arms and hands. I had headaches all the time,” said Debby.

Her doctor referred her to an orthopedic surgeon, who gave Debby some serious news: it wasn’t a matter of if she was going to need spinal surgery, but when. Two of Debby’s discs were protruding and pushing on her spinal cord. The surgeon warned her that waiting much longer to have surgery would lead to permanent nerve damage.

Debby decided to pursue the surgery, which included transplanting two new spinal discs from a human tissue donor. The procedure sounded daunting.

“It involved cutting through my throat to get to my spine and pushing my esophagus and trachea out of the way,” Debby said. She was also concerned about her body rejecting the donor discs. “I thought, ‘what if they don’t take?’ There’s always a risk of rejection.”

However, Debby had the surgery in June of 2010 and it was a great success. After six weeks in a neck brace, Debby has experienced a dramatic recovery.

“It’s a huge difference. It’s fabulous,” she said. “I don’t have the daily headache or the constant tightness in my shoulders all the time.  I owe my recovery to an excellent orthopedic surgeon and to God my savior.”

Debby has returned to the things that make her happy: maintaining her garden and spending time truly playing with her grandchildren.  “I have six grandchildren and I want to spend the rest of my time with them. I want to go to the park and jump on a swing and do all those fun things,” she said.

Debby is conscientious about protecting her neck and her gift of life. She is now more careful about lugging heavy bags, her posture when she gardens, etc. Also, she is grateful to have learned about the possibilities of tissue donation and the miracle it made in her life.

“You don’t hear about people giving disc donations,” Debby said. “It’s very important and it’s something that I want to make my family aware of.”