No.3/July 2010AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT FROM MEDIAPLANET IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

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We all have the power to offer renewed life and health to those in need

As this publication reaches you, two timely events markboth the promise of organ transplantation and the ongoing need for the lifesaving gift of organ and tissue donation.

Beginning this week-end, more than a thou-sand people who have received an organ or bone marrow trans-plant or been a living organ donor will meet

and compete at the U.S. Transplant Games in Madison, Wisc. This event is held every two years and organized by the 2010 National Kidney Founda-tion U.S. Transplant Games. While tak-ing part in sporting events, each par-ticipant is a serious competitor. Away from the competition, they all share the common bond of having a second opportunity at life and health thanks to a unique gift—an organ or marrow freely given by another human being, living or deceased.

A particularly crucial needAugust first is National Minority Donor Awareness Day. This annual commemoration not only honors people who have been donors but

reminds the public of the ongoing need. This is particularly true among ethnic minorities. People of African-American and Hispanic heritage are at heightened risk of developing kid-ney disease, which may lead to organ failure and the need for a transplant. While organs and tissues can be suc-cessfully transplanted among any eth-nic group, donors and recipients who share the same ethnic background are much more likely to be well-matched. Thus while there is an overall need for more organ and tissue donors, the need for minority donors is particu-larly crucial.

We at UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) operate the nation’s Organ Procurement and Transplanta-tion Network under federal contract. We develop national organ allocation policy, create standards for transplant institutions and manage the national database on organ donation and trans-plantation. In doing so, we continually see the benefi ts of transplantation, the

selfl essness of donors and their fam-ilies, and the great and growing need of those who await the gift of life. We are honored to have many volunteers on our Board of Directors and commit-tees who have been touched by dona-tion and transplantation in their per-sonal and/or professional lives.

We hope you fi nd the following articles both educational and inspi-

rational. The fi eld of transplantation continues to advance. Many people who now benefi t from transplants never would have had that opportu-nity decades ago. But what has not changed is that the ultimate imple-ment of healing is a human gift, made possible by one person’s decision to help others through a commitment to donation. And the number of people needing this gift continues to grow.

How you can helpPlease take this opportunity to refl ect on the di� erence that transplanta-tion makes in the lives of many thou-sands of people. And please help us to increase the number of registered donors nationwide. Many millions of Americans have done so already, but more are needed.

We all have the power to offer renewed life and health to those in need. For more information about registering as a donor, please visit www.donatelife.net.

Charles AlexanderPresident, UNOS; Chief Executive Offi cer, The Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland

Fact vs. fiction p. 2Addressing the fears, stigmas andmyths surrounding transplantation.

New innovationsand technologies p. 3What’s advancing the industry andenabling more lives to be saved than ever.

ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION,3RD EDITION, JULY 2010

Country Manager: Kayvan Salmanpourkayvan.salmanpour@mediaplanet.comEditorial Manager: Jackie McDermottjackie.mcdermott@mediaplanet.com

Responsible for this issue:Publisher: Sara Quigleysara.quigley@mediaplanet.comDesigner: Mariel Fitzgeraldmariel.fi tzgerald@mediaplanet.comContributors: Charles Alexander; Julie G. Allickson, PhD, MS, MT(ASCP); Dr. Bryan Becker; Denise Brookie, Be The Match;Dr. Keith Melancon; The National Kidney Foundation; Richard Sharp; UNOS

Distributed within: The Wall Street Journal, July 2010This section was written by Mediaplanet and did not involve The Wall Street Journal or Editorial Departments.

Mediaplanet’s business is to create new customers for our advertisers by provid-ing readers with high-quality editorial content that motivates them to act.

The TransplantGames showcase the success of transplantation, demonstrating the life-saving power of organ donation.PAGE 2

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THE POWERTO GIVEErin Brenner, two-timetransplant patient, is oneof the thousands of peoplewho will turn out today atthe 2010 National KidneyFoundation U.S. TransplantGames in Madison, Wis. tocelebrate the gift of life.

WE RECOMMEND

2 · july 2010 an independent supplement from mediaplanet in the wall street journal

Miracles like Erin Brenner’s are sup-posed to happen all the time.

A beautiful little seven-year-old girl with big brown eyes, curly red hair and a smile that could make flowers grow, Erin is alive today due to the gen-erosity of a liver transplant donor.

When she was two months old, she was diagnosed with an extremely rare disease that affected both her liver and kidneys.

“They told us that Erin was suf-fering from kidney failure and that we would need to get her both a liver transplant and a kidney transplant,” says Irene Brenner, Erin’s mother.

Waiting for the call “We knew the numbers. Over one hun- dred thousand people are in line for these transplants. Eighteen people a day die while waiting for just one transplant, let alone two, you know? Was she going to be one of those peo-ple? It was an incredibly scary time. The thought of losing your child—I just couldn’t even breathe. The phone would ring and I would jump—is this the call? Is she going to make it?”

Unfortunately, Erin is one of far too many Americans and their families who have faced an agonizing life-or-death wait for a crucial organ transplant.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, because of the lack of available donors in this country, 4,511

kidney patients, 1,458 liver patients, 352 heart patients and 235 lung pat- ients died in 2009 while waiting for life–saving organ transplants.

Luckily, Erin was the exception.At 10 months old, eight months

after she was put on the waiting list, Erin got a new liver. Her new liver stopped poisoning the kidneys, and gradually, her kidney returned to nor-mal functioning levels.

For Erin and her family, it was noth-ing short of a miracle.

“When Erin got her transplant, you can’t imagine how indebted I felt for the whole process. She got her liver from a two year old who had passed away, and I feel so incredibly grateful to the donor family. It’s so important that people can see this little darling would not be here if someone did not make this decision,” says Brenner.

The Brenners will show their thanks and support for organ donations this summer by participating in The 2010 National Kidney Foundation U.S. Tran-splant Games.

An Olympic-style eventThe Games, to be held July 30–August 4, 2010, offer life-saving transplant recipients of every variety as well as living donors the opportunity to com-pete in 13 different Olympic-style events, including track and field, swimming, tennis, basketball, cycling and golf. Organizers expect more than 1,200 athletes and 5,000 attendees, including transplant athletes, their

families and friends, and families of organ donors.

The games are designed to showcase how successful transplants can be for both the recipients and the donors, to recognize and pay tribute to donors and their families, offer a form of reha-bilitation for chronic disease patients, establish a commitment to patient wellness, and—most importantly—to call attention to the critical need for more organ donors.

“The Transplant Games visually showcase the success of transplanta-tion, demonstrating the life–saving power of organ donation,” says John Davis, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation.

“We hope our spirited competi-tion will slam home the message that every American should consider becoming an organ donor,” says Davis.

Little Erin Brenner, who is now a growing nine year old, will be doing her part to slam home the message by showing off her athletic prowess and boundless energy in a series of events that would make Bruce Jenner proud. She hopes to compete well in swim-ming, track and field, the long jump, bicycling and basketball, after getting two gold medals in the last games.

Win or lose, the Brenners hope Erin’s story serves as an example for those considering donating organs.

“Erin showed everyone that trans-plantation works,” says Irene Brenner.

“I hope her spirit and resilience will inspire organ donors as well as bring hope to those who are still on the wait-ing list for life–saving organs.”

For more information or to become an organ donor, visit www.transplantgames.org

Despite continuing efforts at public education, misconcep-tions and inaccuracies about donation persist. It’s a tragedy if even one person decides against donation because they don’t know the truth.

■■ Myth: When you’re waiting for atransplant, your financial or cele- brity status is as important as your medical status.

■■ Fact: When you are on the trans-plant waiting list for a donor organ, what really counts is the severity of your illness, time spent waiting, blood type, and other important medical information.

■■ Myth: Only hearts, livers, and kid-neys can be transplanted.

■■ Fact: Needed organs include theheart, kidneys, pancreas, lungs, liver, and intestines. Tissue that can be donated include the eyes, skin, bone, heart valves and tendons.

■■ Myth: You are too old to be a donor.

■■ Fact: People of all ages and medi-cal histories should consider them-selves potential donors. Your medi-cal condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tis-sue can be donated.

■■ Myth: Organ donation disfig-ures the body and changes the way it looks in a casket.

■■ Fact: Donated organs are removed surgically, in a routine operation that does not change the contour of the body. Donation does not change the appearance of the body for the funeral service.

■■ Myth: If you agree to donate your organs, your family will be charged for the costs.

■■ Fact: There is no cost to the do-nor’s family or estate for organ and tissue donation. Funeral costs rem- ain the responsibility of the family.

United network for organ sharing

editorial@mediaplanet.com

INSPIRATION

Miraculous Spirit: The 2010 National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games

Facts

The 2010 National Kidney Foundation U.S. Transplant Games

■■ Founded: 1982 in texas■■ Location: Madison, WI■■ Athletes participating: Over 1,500■■ Past games: Los angeles, atlan-

ta, salt Lake city, columbus, Orlan-do, Louisville and Pittsburgh

■■ Goal: to promote the success of organ donation and transplantation.

■■ Register to be a donor: Visit www.donatelife.net

■■ Question: what are the 2010 national Kidney foundation u.s. transplant Games?

■■ Answer: a celebration of life, and an impassioned plea for organ donations.

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1. eRIN bReNNeR was diagnosed with an extremely rare disease that affected both her liver and her kidneys. Today, erin will compete as a returning gold medalist. 2. eMILY bIONDI (L) AND JeNNIFeR SeARL (R) took home the gold and silver medals at the 2008 Transplant Games 5K Road Race in their age category.1. Photo: Marc Serota for the NatioNal KidNey fouNdatioN; 2. Photo: eric Miller for the NatioNal KidNey fouNdatioN

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Facts

july 2010 · 3an independent supplement from mediaplanet in the wall street journal

Ronald Saunders, a DMV clerk in Wilmington, NC encourages his cus-tomers to register as organ donors. “Would you like to be an organ donor?” is a simple yet powerful ques-tion asked every day by Ronald. Why ask everyone? “You never know who might need a life-saving organ trans-plant,” says Ronald. “It could be your friend, neighbor, brother, mother—or even you.” Ronald knows this all too well. His older brother needed dialy-sis three times a week for eight years to stay alive. He recently received a kidney transplant because someone said “yes” to donation, just like the people Ronald asks every day.

Just say “yes”When Maria Nunn-Ling’s husband, Curtiss, moved to New Jersey he applied for a new driver’s license. He said “yes” to the question Maria always asks working for the New Jersey DMV. Tragically, Curtiss later suffered a fatal allergic reaction and

the lives of others were saved because of his decision to donate life. “It makes it easier knowing that there are five people alive today because of his gift,” says Maria. Each day Maria is reminded that she and other DMV employees “have an opportunity to save many lives.”

Though on opposite sides of the organ donation story both Ronald and Maria recognize that they help save lives everyday by asking a simple powerful question. Ever think a motor vehicle clerk might save your life? Donate Life America, the over 108,000 Americans currently waiting for a life- saving organ transplant, and the thou-sands of donors and their families that have saved lives know they do.

The power of “yes”■■ Question: ever think a motor

vehicle clerk could save your life? ■■ Answer: ronald and maria,

two individuals on opposite sides of the organ donation story, know one can.

■■ Over 108,000 people await life-saving transplants.

■■ 97 percent of registered donors record their wishes through the DMV.

■■ a majority of Us adults wish to be donors. Only 41.4 percent of licensed drivers have registered.

Facts

! Read more on the web:

www.donatelife.net

According to the National Kidney Foundation, every day 18 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kid-ney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow, and 104,748 U.S. patients are currently waiting for an organ transplant.

While the situation is dire for many, new innovations in transplant tech-niques and technologies are helping to provide hope for the future for those who continue to wait.

Plasmapheresis“People who have kidney disease often have donors that want to donate to them, but cannot,” says Dr. Keith Mel-ancon, surgeon and director of Kidney, Pancreas and Pediatric Kidney Trans-plantation at Georgetown University Hospital.

“They can have different blood types, or it can become more complex, par-ticularly in African American popu-

lations, where patients have a higher likelihood of building up antibodies and dealing potential incompatibility.”

For the 30 percent of those patients whose antibodies may prevent tradi-tional transplants, transplant physi-cians like Melancon are using a process called plasmapheresis, where blood is drawn from the transplant recipi-ent, run through a filter to remove pro-teins that include the antibodies, then returned to the patient to decrease the risk of incompatibility.

“We do about 200-250 kidney trans-plants a year at all hospitals in Wash-ington D.C. Using plasmapheresis and paired exchanges to overcome incom-patibility, we hope to double that num-ber,” said Dr. Melancon.

banking on Stem CellsWhile there is considerable contro-versy surrounding the ethics of tradi-tional stem cell research, scientists are already exploiting non-controversial stem cells found in the umbilical cord to help treat more than 75 diseases and for cells recently identified in men-strual blood in pre-clinical trials for future applications.

Cord blood can be particularly use-ful in cases requiring a bone marrow transplant. Menstrual blood demon-

strates plasticity referring to the cell differentiating into new types such as nerve tissue.

“Researchers have discovered that non-controversial sources of cells such as umbilical cord which is a rich source of stem cells used as a substitute for bone marrow in thousands of success-ful transplants and menstrual blood which is being assessed for future ther-apeutic use where a stroke pre-clinical trial was successfully completed,” said Dr. Julie Allickson, vice president labo-ratory operations, research & develop-ment at Cryo-Cell International, Inc.

By storing the umbilical cord cells and menstrual stem cells in Cryo-Cell’s futuristic cryogenic “cell bank,” many families are choosing to assure easy access to the stem cells needed to fight disease now and into the future.

Clinical and pre-clinical trials also show promise for the use of cord blood cells in building cardiac tissue, repair-ing damage due to stroke or spinal cord injuries and reversing the effects of such diseases as multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s.

“To see something that used to be tossed in the trash as a biohazard, now being used to help people fight dis-eases is really exciting,” said Allickson.

Transplant innovations bring new hope■■ Question: how are physicians

and researchers using innovation to treat transplant patients?

■■ Answer: they are using inno-vations such as plasmapheresis and non-controversial stem cells to help assure transplant success.

Every year, thousands of patients are diagnosed with life-threat-ening diseases, such as leuke-mia and lymphoma, and an unre-lated marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant is often their best or only hope for survival. About 70 percent of patients will not find a donor within their family. They depend on the Be The Match Registry—the official registry of the United States and the world’s largest registry of potential marrow donors and cord blood units—and the kind-ness of a stranger to save their lives.

The tissue types used for matching patients with donors are inherited, so patients are most likely to find a match within their own racial or eth-nic heritage. While many patients find a life-saving match, more donors are needed, especially from racially

and ethnically diverse communities.You can help. Be The Match offers

people the unique opportunity to help a patient by donating marrow or cord blood, volunteering or contrib-uting financially. For more informa-tion, visit BeTheMatch.org.

PANel OF exPeRTS

Many potential donors are concerned thatafter donating, they will be at risk for compli- cations and problems themselves. Those who are concerned about donating after they die may have concerns that in death they would not be whole, a sound reservation often culturally bas- ed. To the extent that we can provide more safety data, we can assure potential donors that a very safe process, living donation, is being monitored by our transplant community to improve per- formance and make the donation process even safer. By working to honor culture and commun- ity in discussing donation, we can advance the idea that extending the life of others is a marvel-ous outcome even in the midst of the sadness.

Misconceptions of private cord blood bank-ing that erupt in on-line chat includes the belief that by storing cord blood for private use the client is taking a product out of the inventory of a public bank. In reality the pri-vately banked units are an extremely small percentage of the USA live births per year (4.3 million in 2009). According to Wagner, in 2010 there were 600,000 privately banked cord blood units and this is a very small percent-age of the total births in the US.

I think that the most common misconcep-tion is the difficulty of the operation for the donor. I think that people believe it is going to be a bigger deal than it actually is. The reason may be that they do not understand how we do the operation today. We do it laparoscopically so the patient is in the hospital for only one to two days and back to normal activity between two and three weeks. The other misconception is people think they have to be well-matched with the recipient’s blood type and antigens. There are a lot of things we can do to get the transplant to work even if the people aren’t well-matched.

A transplant provides a renewal, a freedom to live. Patients manifest this freedom in differ-ent ways. Some travel for the first time in years, some tackle new endeavors. One of the most joyful as a physician is seeing a transplant patient start a family. The hesitation, concern and fatigue of organ failure seemingly faded in one woman whom I cared for and she decided to have a family. The joy of that first visit after she had her child and the pride and fascination of being a mother was phenomenal and in the eyes of that very nice lady, “made possible by George, my kidney.”

One of our first cord blood transplants was a patient suffering from T-Cell Lymphoma. The patient had a cord blood sibling matched product. The transplant was successful and the family has visited our facility. The visit provided insight into what we do daily and the number of lives we may potentially touch. It is an incredible feeling to know that a product that was once discarded as medical waste can be used to save a life or significantly increase the quality of life of an individual.

So many of my patients inspire us with their stories. I think transplantation is a unique field because you have so much posi-tive reinforcement on a daily basis. For me, at least recently, the most inspiring happening has to be our patient who received a perfectly matched kidney. When you get that from a deceased donor, no matter where it is in the country, it will come to you. She had been on the list to receive one via the paired kidney exchange, for which her husband was going to donate. Even though she no longer needed a kidney herself, her husband still went through with it. This man gave up his kidney even though his wife had been transplanted. People like that, the altruistic donors, really inspire me. They give for mankind.

It is with tremendous interest that transplant programs across the country are examining how to participate in liv-ing donor exchanges. Often, individu-als who want to be donors for another per-son cannot by virtue of having a differ-ent blood type or because the potential recipient would react to the donor kidney causing rejection. By working together across institutions, it is possible to find other individ-uals who are in the same situation. With well-orchestrated logistics, it is possible to have the original donors donate their kidneys to the recipient who will not react to their kidney.

The potential use of the primitive umbili-cal cord blood stem cells in non-blood derived diseases with many significant clinical trials executed including the assessment of umbil-ical cord blood cells to be used for cardiac applications, injured spinal cord, Cerebral Palsy, limb ischemia, Type I Diabetes, osteo-petrosis, brain tumors and multiple sclerosis. Other exciting developments include the identification of a stem cell in the menstrual blood. The cell characteristics were published in 2008 by Cryo-Cell discussing the plasticity and longevity of the stem cells now in pre-clinical studies.

I think the most exciting new development is for people who have antibodies. What that means is when you have an infection or blood transfusion, for example, you build up antibod-ies in the blood and these prevent people from receiving transplants. We have therapies that can reduce these antibodies and allow peo-ple to have transplants. As far as what’s com-ing down the pipe, we will have better tests to allow us to know how strong the immune sys-tem is. These tests will be available in the next five years. This is going to advance the field.

Question 1:In your opinion, what is the most common misconcep-tion about donating? Why do you think this is?

Question 2:What is the most exciting new development in this field?

Question 3:Transplant surgery has changed so many lives. Please share a personal anecdote that reflects this.

Dr. bryan beckerPresident, National Kidney Foundation

Julie G. Allickson, PhD, MS, MT(ASCP)Vice President Laboratory Opera-tions, Research & Development, cryo-cell International, Inc.

Dr. Keith MelanconDirector of the Kidney and Pancreas transplant Program at Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital center

NeWs NOtIce

Some records were made to be broken.

In a feat that combined the best of medicine and the best of human-ity, 28 people came together in Wash-ington D.C. from around the country to successfully complete the world’s largest kidney exchange, pairing 14 kidney donors with 14 recipients facing potentially life-threatening kidney diseases.

The transplants were performed between May 26 and June 12 by teams at Georgetown University Hospital, Washington Hospital Center, Child-ren’s National Medical Center and Inova Fairfax Hospital.

“This wonderful life-saving chain would not have happened without dif-ferent types of donors, including truly selfless non-directed donors, com-ing together to help give these peo-ple a new chance at life,” said Dr. Keith Melancon, Surgeon and Director of Kidney, Pancreas and Pediatric Kidney Transplantation at Georgetown Uni-versity Hospital.

“Many of these people needed to literally find a needle in a haystack, and this exchange helped them to do that,” said Melancon.

Due to the complex and time-sensi-tive nature of the “paired exchange,” plans for the transplants had to be

fluid up to the last moment in order to assure success.

“This exchange shows a tremen-dous amount of coordination and cooperation between four hospitals that serve a great number of the people of the D.C. area,” said Dr. Jimmy Light, Director of Transplantation Services at Washington Hospital Center.

The 14-way exchange is not the first such exchange conducted between Georgetown University Hospital and Washington Hospital Center, which held the previous record with a 13-way exchange in 2009.

“Thirty-two people have benefited from these exchanges, which have taken place in the last year. That’s almost 20 percent of the waiting list in Washington,” said Dr. Light.

Hospitals perform world’s largest kidney exchange for 28 patients

Denise brookiedirector of recruitment and Community relations, east region, Be the match

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