Two New Organs In One Diabetic's Fight

Reporter Receives Pancreas, Kidney As Part Of Study

By Robert Davis

Scott Bowles, a USA TODAY reporter who is chronicling his battle with diabetes in an occasional series in the newspaper, received a kidney and pancreas transplant early Thursday.

Bowles, 34, of Washington, D.C., was in the operating room for eight hours while David Sutherland, head of the transplant program at the Fairview-University Medical Center in Minneapolis, implanted a kidney and a pancreas from a 21-year-old accident victim into the reporter's abdomen. Officials typically withhold information about an organ donor.

''The loss of a young life like that is a tragedy,'' said Billy Bowles, the reporter's father. ''Our daughter, who stayed back home in Atlanta, cried all day about the death of that young man. So, we're happy, and yet we are sad.''

Both organs appeared to be working late Thursday. ''The surgery took,'' Sutherland said.

If it continues to function properly, the new pancreas will produce insulin and cure the diabetes that has cost Bowles some of his vision and kidney function.

The extra kidney (he now has three) should bolster the blood-purifying system that has been damaged by his 20-year fight with diabetes.

Some doctors view treating diabetes with organ transplantation as controversial because it creates significant medical challenges associated with organ rejection. Whether Bowles rejects the organ will be part of a study that helped him get the organs. Of the 66,000 people waiting for organ transplants in the USA, 1,634 are waiting for the combination of a kidney and pancreas. About 500 have the same blood type as Bowles, type A.

Bowles' match was made by a computer that is being used as part of the study, which is testing the limits of what makes a good organ match. In Minnesota, every other patient is automatically assigned to the study. Sutherland said that by traditional methods, Bowles would have matched three of six key compatibility tests. As part of the study, which allows the grouping of similar genetic markers, he became a perfect match.

Bowles received the two organs just more than a year after he went on the waiting list, which is about half the average waiting time for Minnesota. Organ transplant rules allow a surgeon to give an organ to a patient who might have waited less time and might be considered less ill than others on the waiting list as long as the match is better.

About 100 people die each year waiting for a kidney and pancreas transplant.

Bowles almost missed his chance because he was on assignment. He was asleep in a New York hotel room with his pager vibrating silently on a chair when the call came. Sutherland worked for nearly an hour with newspaper staffers to reach Bowles.

''Generally, I try for an hour, and if I can't find them, I go to the next person on the list,'' Sutherland said. ''We pretty much used up that hour.''

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