Organ Donors Give The Priceless Gift Of Time

Column by The Post's David Wecker

It's been two months since the strain on Cindy Claypoole Kuhlman's body finally proved to be too much. Had the assaults been restricted to her spirit, she would have withstood them. She had a strong spirit. It was all the other stuff that wore her down.

You may remember reading about Cindy. The younger of my wife's two brothers, Keith Kuhlman, was Cindy's husband. She'd fought a long, difficult battle against an invisible enemy - going back to 1980, when she was 7 years old and diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

From the time she turned 11, she was spending as much time in the hospital as she was at her parents' home in Maysville. Three years ago, she underwent a transplant procedure at the A.B. Chandler Medical Center in Lexington to receive a new pancreas and kidney.

Ten months ago, Cindy and Keith became the parents of a baby, a girl they named Delaney. Cindy shouldn't have been able to have a child. She and Keith came to regard Delaney as their miracle baby. She never could have happened if not for the fact that, three years earlier, someone had made the decision to donate a pancreas and a kidney.

This past September, Cindy's transplanted organs went into acute and chronic rejection. She was rushed from Cold Spring to Lexington in an ambulance, given massive doses of anti-rejection drugs and sent home.

She'd taken to telling the Kuhlman women they ought not worry, that God had given her three years she wouldn't otherwise have had and that, as far as she could tell, she'd gotten as much as she could from those three years. Which, of course, was not at all a message the Kuhlman women wanted to hear.

That first week in October, as she was drawing a glass of water in her kitchen to take with her medication, a bone in her hip broke. She dropped in a heap to the floor. Two days later, after surgery to repair her hip, receiving intravenous pain medication every five minutes at St. Luke Hospital, she stopped breathing.

I was there at the hospital when Keith signed the forms agreeing to donate whatever of Cindy's organs could be used. He signed over tissues, too - tendons, ligaments, bone marrow.

Last week, Keith told me he'd heard from the Ohio Valley Tissue and Skin Center that one of Cindy's ear canals was making a difference in someone's life. He also had received a letter of thanks from the Cincinnati Eye Institute.

I told Keith I'd gotten several e-mails in response to the first column. Among them was this, from Lisa Kramer of Alexandria:

''I, too, am a transplant recipient . . . It has been almost six years since I received my new liver. I since have become a nurse and volunteer my time . . . educating others about the importance of organ donation.''

And this, from Joan Berning of Cincinnati:

''If liver transplants had been more successful 22 years ago, my mother would still be alive today. At least, I had 11 years with her. I still remember her. Thank you for putting out the word to let people know how important transplants are.

''Please let Keith know many people are out there who are willing to help in any way. And tell him my father made it through with four kids by himself, and we all turned out OK.''

And this, from Nancy McGuire, who lives in Finneytown and works in the heart transplant clinic at University Hospital:

''I attended the funeral of a wonderful man last year. He has been transplanted 14 years earlier . . . This man always reminded me how precious and fragile life is and to enjoy every minute. The church was full at his funeral. The son got up to talk. Despite all the wonderful things this man did during his lifetime, the very first thing his son did was to thank the donor family for the extra 14 years he had with his dad.

''All those years, and they're still grateful. They never forget.''

If you'd like to find out more about becoming an organ donor, call the Ohio Valley Life Center at 1-800-981-LIFE or the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates at 859-278-3492.

They won't ask for anything until you're done with it.

You can contact David Wecker at (513) 352-2791 or via e-mail at sambets@choice.net

Copyright © 1999 The Cincinnati Post.

This article posted January 26, 2001.