Donating a part of herself

Valley woman gives brother much of her liver

Maggie Galehouse

The Arizona Republic

September 18, 2004

Nick de la Torre The Arizona Republic Katie Hines of Scottsdale (left), with daughter Kimberly Hines of Fountain Hills, talks Tuesday about donating a part of her liver to help her brother in Illinois. Last year, 2134 Arizonans became living organ donors.

When Katie Hines was a little girl, her big brother looked out for her, taking care of her when no one else did.

So when the Scottsdale real estate agent learned that her childhood protector was losing his battle with chronic liver disease, she made a decision that put her own health and career in jeopardy.

She decided to donate more than half of her own liver to save him.

"I have no regrets about it," said Hines, 56, who is still recuperating from the May 12 transplant surgery that left a "Mercedes-Benz cut" scar on her stomach and gave her brother, Bill Schlesinger, a second chance. "Bill is doing really well."

Last year, 213 Arizonans became living organ donors.

Since 2001, living donors have outnumbered deceased donors in the United States. The vast majority of live organ donations, nearly 70 percent, come from a family member of the patient.

Live liver donation is a relatively new procedure, not even 20 years old. In most states, including Arizona, the procedure is still in its infancy.

Hines, who is single with two grown daughters, worried about complications: "What if my body doesn't get back to normal? What if I can't work? What if I'm a drain on my family? Will the surgery speed up the aging process?"

Arizona's first living liver transplant took place in 2001 at the Mayo Clinic Hospital in Phoenix. To date, there have been 33 such transplants in the state.

Live donations "do not replace the need for deceased donors," said David Douglas, medical director of liver transplantation for the Mayo Clinic. "The odds are that only 20 percent of the people on the list for a transplant could identify an adequate living donor."

A good liver match

Schlesinger, who lives near Chicago, was dying of primary biliary cirrhosis, a disease that destroys the bile ducts in the liver.

Hines flew to Illinois in February to see if her liver was a good match.

Doctors gave her a complete physical and psychological evaluation. Although she was on the older side to be a donor, her excellent physical condition made her a good candidate and she turned out to be a match.

But first, Hines had to break the news to her daughters.

"I have to be honest, I didn't want her to have it at first," said daughter Kimberly Hines, 35, a firefighter/paramedic in Rio Verde. "But she had already had it in her mind that she was going to do it."

Hines' younger daughter, Rebekah, had her reservations, as well. But in the end, they gave Hines their blessing.

Paul Blum, Hines' business partner at ReMax Commercial Investment, put her generosity in business terms.

"In real estate, what we do is a cost-benefit analysis," Blum said. "If you look at the uncertain risk to Katie compared with the certain death of her brother, it certainly made sense to her."

Gathering donations

While most organ donations are now from living donors, most liver transplants use organs from deceased donors. Nationwide last year, more than 5,600 liver transplants were performed and less than 6 percent involved living donors.

There has been a push in some states to give living organ donors special dispensation for their surgeries.

In 1999, President Clinton increased the amount of paid time off for federal employees who serve as organ donors to 30 days from seven.

But in Arizona, there are no such laws regarding living donations. Time off and reimbursement policies vary from company to company, although the recipient's heath insurance generally covers the medical costs.

The kidney is the most sought-after and transplanted organ, from both living and deceased donors, followed by the liver, heart, pancreas, lung and intestine.

"Transplantation has come a long way," said Philip Rosenthal, professor of pediatrics and surgery at the University of California-San Francisco. "Success rates and long-term outcomes are excellent. It's not experimental."

Surgery and aftermath

On May 12, Hines and Schlesinger, then 64, lay in adjacent operating rooms at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Surgeons took six hours to harvest a little more than half of Hines' liver and transplant it into her brother's body.

For living donors, the most common risks associated with transplant surgery are wound infection and pneumonia. About 30 percent of living liver donors develop complications, and Hines fell into that category.

When doctors released her from the hospital two days after surgery and took her off her morphine drip, she experienced intense pain. Her daughter, Kimberly, who stayed with Hines for nearly two weeks while she recuperated in Chicago, rushed her to the emergency room. Hines was readmitted to the hospital for two days.

When she returned to Arizona, she also developed an infection that needed to be treated.

Yet Hines doesn't like to harp on her recuperation, and she has no regrets.

Today, she feels great, "about 85 to 90 percent." Her liver has regenerated itself completely, although her brother's liver will take a few more months to become full size.

Not surprisingly, Hines and Schlesinger have grown closer over the past few months. They talk on the phone at least twice a week.

She has instructed him to take good care of her liver.

"I am very grateful that my sister volunteered to donate half of her liver for me," said Schlesinger, who lost 40 pounds before the surgery and is busy trying to gain weight and exercise. "Otherwise my chances of survival would have been greatly reduced. I am getting stronger every day."

Reach the reporter at maggie.galehouse@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-6868.

Copyright © 2004 azcentral.com

This article posted October 23, 2004.