Bufrey Dean of Sylacauga is alive and well today thanks to the anonymous donation of a liver.
“Fast” is not a word regularly associated with the subject of organ transplants. Patients can remain on waiting lists for years, and Dean was no exception. He waited for three years before finally receiving the life-saving liver at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital.
“The surgeon at UAB said I probably wouldn’t have lasted one more day,” he said.
Dean was diagnosed with the liver disease Alpha I, which was caused by a gene he inherited from his father’s side of the family. He made regular doctors visits between 2000 and 2003. He even underwent blood transfusions and was at the edge of death more than once.
When the good news came that a liver was available for him, he praised the gift of life he’d been provided.
“It was really another part of the miracle,” he said.
Dean is alive and well today because of his new liver. At 71 years old, he is the pastor at Oak Grove Primitive Baptist Church.
Coincidentally, 2003 was the year April was dedicated as National Donate Life Month as a way to celebrate those who have given their organs while encouraging others to do the same.
People with life-threatening condition rely on organ transplant to survive, and the wait itself can be deadly to many of them.
Organs commonly donated include hearts, livers, kidneys, lungs, pancreases and heart valves. When chronic conditions affect such organs, there is often no other alternative than to replace them.
This is the specialty of Alabama Organ Center in Birmingham (www.alabamaorgancenter.org). Hospital and community liaison Becky Davis describes it as a federally designated organ procurement center. Its mission is to recover organs for transplants.
AOC receives data on donors every three months. It gets this data from places where people register or renew their drivers licenses. These are the places people register to become donors, which is indicated by a heart logo on the bottom right corner of the license.
“When you register to be a donor, you’re offering the gift of life,” Davis said.
Davis said more donors are necessary to keep waiting lists down. Some can remain on lists for more than five years. She said this is especially true with kidney donations because patients with kidney disease can be kept on dialysis for extended periods of time.
Davis said there were 411 transplants in Alabama in 2009. This number reflects the actual operations rather than the number of donors, as multiple organs can be given by a single donor.
“I think that’s an excellent number,” Davis said. “That means 411 people in Alabama are living and breathing who wouldn’t be living and breathing if they hadn’t gotten those transplants.”
Dean received his liver anonymously. However, he later learned of the donor’s identity and even learned they were from the same hometown. Dean knows it’s not common to learn who one’s donor is after the fact and said such generosity in providing life to a stranger is indeed another miracle.
“It’s one of the most important things they can do to help save a life,” he said.
LifeSharers (www.lifesharers.org) is a national network that encourages people to become donors by providing organs to other donors.
Dave Undis, executive director of LifeSharers, said that 9,000 in the U.S. die every year from conditions that transplants could have prevented “so that’s reason enough to want to give life.”
He feels that not donating in many cases can be a waste.
“Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transferable organs every year, so we’re just throwing away organs that can be used to save lives,” he said.
While most organs must be donated after one’s death, there are exceptions. Davis said that kidneys and, in some instances, livers can be offered as living donors. One must consult the transplant program at UAB to become a living donor.
Most organ transplants are done in large cities. Therefore, many donors come from those areas.
Sherry Sisco, another hospital and community liaison at AOC, said that small community hospitals, including Citizens Baptist Medical Center and St. Vincent’s St. Clair, don’t handle many patients in need of transplants. Most such patients are transferred to one of the larger Birmingham hospitals if there are donors available.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage -- give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.