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EDINBURG — Dr. Sridhar Allam, medical director of the transplant institute at DHR Health, spoke softly as he talked about the impact organ donation can have on a patient’s life.
He smiled as he thought of a father and daughter who grew closer together after the daughter donated one of her kidneys to her father.
Allam explained that it’s stories like that which highlight the importance of organ donation.
With National Minority Donor Awareness Month observed in August, Allam wants to emphasize how becoming a donor can mean a chance at life again for a patient on the waiting list.
However, the Rio Grande Valley, an area where chronic disease affecting liver and kidneys are prevalent, is facing a shortage of registered organ donors.
“The rates of kidney disease are almost two to four times higher in minority groups compared to Caucasian patients,” Allam said Wednesday, adding that the need for donors continues to rise.
Just last year the transplant team completed 101 kidney transplants but had to transport more than half of the organs needed.
“The number of donors in the Valley was 31. That means we relied on other areas to send us 70 kidneys that this community needs. So that is the problem we’re facing,” Allam said, adding that if there were more local donors they’d be able to complete more transplants.
Due to the Valley’s location, Allam explained that it creates an additional barrier when transporting an organ from out of the area.
“… We’ve had to pass on some of the offers that come to our patients because there’s too much cold ischemia time, which refers to time the organ is outside a person without blood supplies, on ice,” Allam said. “Once an organ is outside the donor then the sooner it goes into the patient the better chance it works right away.”
He added that by the time they hear about an organ availability it’s a race against time to get the organ to the facility and transplanted within 24 hours of that organ being procured from a deceased donor.
“Two days ago I got an offer from Hawaii that would’ve required a 12-hour flight to California, to then travel to Dallas or Houston and then be transported to the Valley which would’ve taken another 14 to 16 hours,” Allam said. “Our location is definitely at a very disadvantage, that’s why raising organ donation awareness here in the Valley is even more important than any part of the country.”
Unfortunately, due to the shortage of organ donors among minority groups the wait list has continued to grow at the local and national level.
Although they completed a record number of transplants last year Allam explained that the wait list continues to grow with more than 140 patients currently on the waiting list and counting.
Similarly, the rest of the country is also seeing an increase in patients on the waitlist.
Allam explained that although the number of transplants done per year increased from less than 20,000 to 30,000 the “waitlist did not really budge,” with about 90,000 patients currently on the kidney transplant waiting list.
He believes there are three main reasons why someone might be hesitant toward becoming an organ donor, the first being a general distrust in the healthcare system.
He added that a common misconception heard is people believing a physician will not try to save their lives if they are an organ donor.
Allam said that is far from the truth.
“Clinical team and donation team are completely separate,” Allam said. “You still get the same amount of care and you still have the same amount of chance of fighting a dying situation compared to those that are not registered as organ donors.”
Additionally families of a patient also need to consent to organ donation before the donation team steps in.
He added another misconception that often leads to people not registering as a donor is people believing they’re too old or that their medical conditions make them an unsuitable donor without being checked.
“Age by itself does not contraindicate organ donation and high blood pressure and diabetes that are well controlled, they can be very acceptable deceased donors,” Allam said. “I want everybody to know, don’t assume that you’re not going to be eligible as a donor.”
The rules differ for living donors, however.
Living donors go through a more extensive screening to ensure they are in perfect health, optimal weight and do not suffer from diabetes or hypertension before qualifying as an organ donor.
Allam added that the RGV has a culture where parents or older relatives needing a transplant will refuse for their children to donate to them in fear of complications during surgery and because they see it as unnecessary.
A parent or relative needing the transplant will usually disallow a child or younger relative risk their health for their life.
Allam reassured that living donor transplants have “a very, very low complication rate.”
Should the donor later need a transplant themselves later in life they will automatically move to the top of the waiting list because they were a donor.
He encourages everyone to be open-minded when it comes to organ donation and talk to a transplant team about qualifying as an organ donor.
“Them coming here doesn’t mean they’ll be proceeding (with) donation,” Allam said.
After years of working as a transplant nephrologist Allam explained that every patient’s story moves you to tears.
As a physician he sees patients throughout the whole process — when they apply for transplant, when they come to the clinic to be seen by the transplant team, through cardiac and cancer screenings, waitlist, and after the transplant.
He added that there’s often a day and night difference in a patient’s energy levels after a transplant. They are given a better quality of life with more freedom with diet, fluids, travel and family.
“Almost every transplant is a beautiful story,” Allam said. “Our location is underserved and remote and we have more kidney disease but we have very few organ donors here. So I think if organ donors come from this community this will help this community more than anything else.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated to correct the number of patients on the transplant waiting list.
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