ADOPTIVE SIS GIVES BROTHER LIVE-SAVING GIFT.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
It was only minutes before surgery, and Derek Armstead leaned over, asking his sister one more time. ``Are you sure?'' he said. ``You can still change your mind. It's not too late.'' Dana Armstead smiled and told the anesthesiologist Anesthesiologist A medical specialist who administers an anesthetic to a patient before he is treated. Mentioned in: Anesthesia, General, Appendectomy, Parathyroidectomy anesthesiologist to hold on a minute. She had something to take care of before he put them under. ``Derek, I'm doing it,'' she said. ``It's going to be OK.'' Derek nodded and closed his eyes. ``I love you, sis,'' he said, before going to sleep. ``I love you, too,'' Dana said, following her brother into a deep sleep. During the next four hours, surgeons at UCLA Medical Center UCLA Medical Center is a hospital located on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. It is rated as one of the top three hospitals in the United States and is the top hospital on the West Coast according to US News & World Report. took one of Dana's healthy kidneys and put it into the body of Derek, who was dying of kidney failure kidney failure or renal failure Partial or complete loss of kidney function. Acute failure causes reduced urine output and blood chemical imbalance, including uremia. Most patients recover within six weeks. . Not into the body of her biological brother, but her adoptive a·dop·tive adj. 1. a. Of or having to do with adoption. b. Characteristic of adoption. 2. Related by adoption: brother. Incredibly, a little girl who was adopted and brought into the Armstead family at 4 would turn out to be the only perfect kidney match doctors could find to save her adoptive brother's life 23 years later. The same brother who had begged his mother back in 1976 to adopt this little girl wearing the funny-looking glasses because she looked like the sweetest thing he had ever seen in his life. And now, she was about to repay him by saving his life. Derek's condition had worsened to the point that his dialysis dialysis (dīăl`ĭsĭs), in chemistry, transfer of solute (dissolved solids) across a semipermeable membrane. Strictly speaking, dialysis refers only to the transfer of the solute; transfer of the solvent is called osmosis. treatments were no longer effective. Unless a donor The party conferring a power. One who makes a gift. One who creates a trust. donor n. a person or entity making a gift or donation. DONOR. He who makes a gift. (q.v.) were found soon, he would die. None of his natural siblings siblings npl (formal) → frères et sœurs mpl (de mêmes parents) or parents proved to be a match. Derek figured that was it. He had had no success the last five years waiting for a donor on the kidney transplant kidney transplant or renal transplant Replacement of a diseased or damaged kidney with one from a living relative or a legally dead donor. The former's tissue type is more likely to match, reducing the chance of rejection; but removal puts the donor at risk, list, and now even his own family proved to be no match. That's when Dana stepped in and said, ``Hey, what about me?'' Call it divine intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. , a miracle or just plain good luck, but the tests came back positive. The adopted sister in the family was a perfect match. ``It was like God knew what he was doing 23 years ago when he brought us all together,'' Dana said in January, when I first wrote about this wonderfully close Sherman Oaks family. With their mother, Shirley, they were all playing a waiting game back then, as this kidney transplant operation - first due in February, then early March - kept getting postponed because of Derek's frail frail 1 adj. frail·er, frail·est 1. Physically weak; delicate: an invalid's frail body. 2. health. Finally, earlier this month at UCLA Medical Center, the time was right. And Dana, no matter how many times her brother asked, was not about to change her mind. ``The day after the operation the doctors wanted me to try and get up to walk around, so I decided to walk down to Derek's room, which was just down the hall,'' Dana said from her Sherman Oaks apartment Monday, still recovering from the surgery. ``When I walked in, he was lying there in bed looking up at the ceiling, just smiling. He was so happy, and I knew all the worrying and pain I was going through was going to be worth it, just to see my brother like this. ``But when he saw me he got worried and protective, just like a big brother,'' she said, laughing. ``He said, `What are you doing out of bed? Get back in there.' '' From his home Monday, Derek said he's still smiling but feeling a little guilty. It's been three weeks now since the operation, and he's feeling great, but Dana's still in pain, he said. ``It takes a lot of person to do what she did for me, but I feel bad for her because she's still in all this pain while I'm feeling like I'm 20 years old again,'' said the 38-year-old Derek. A lot of the pain Dana's still feeling, says her mother, is because doctors had to remove a rib to get to her kidneys. ``There's always more pain when something's taken away from the body, but doctors say they're both doing great,'' Shirley said Monday, smiling. She says she's been counting her blessings for listening to her then 15-year-old son, Derek, back in 1976 when he said he wanted a baby sister. How about that little 4-year-old with the funny-looking glasses? CAPTION(S): photo PHOTO Derek Armstead and his sister Dana are all the closer after she donated do·nate v. do·nat·ed, do·nat·ing, do·nates v.tr. To present as a gift to a fund or cause; contribute. v.intr. To make a contribution to a fund or cause. a kidney to save his life. Tina Gerson/Daily News |
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