struggled with diabetes for a long
time before I had a transplant. Diagnosed at age 10, I
got along fairly well until I reached my 20s. It was difficult
to balance diet, exercise, injections and work. My blood sugars
were on a roller coaster, and sometimes it seemed that the harder
I tried to do everything right, the more trouble I had keeping
the disease under control. My vision varied from one day to the
next and insulin reactions became more frequent and sometimes
so severe that at night I didn't even wake up. Finally, I was
referred to the transplant center at The Nebraska Medical Center.
I was evaluated and approved for a transplant. It has been a
life-saving experience for me. I have not had a single insulin
injection since that day. The transplant team was very helpful
during my initial recovery and is still very helpful now. I am
doing very well. I returned to work full time eight weeks after
surgery and I feel good! I have more energy than I used to have.
My vision is stable and I can see clearly every day! I can eat
when I feel like it and splurge once in awhile. I had my first
hot fudge sundae ever for my birthday after my transplant. It
was wonderful! It is great to enjoy so many of the basic things
in life that most people take for granted.
Georgia Percival
Pancreas Transplant
January 22, 1991
My name is Darla Evans
and on March 25, 2002, I received word that it was possible they
had a pancreas for me. I was so nervous but yet very excited.
I kept thinking about how my life could be extended by 10 to
15 years by getting a pancreas.
I remember how tough the last eight years had been for me.
I had by-pass surgery on my right leg due to a blockage. Four years
later, I had a heart attack and had to have quadruple by-pass surgery.
I also started to have reactions but was not aware of them. I had
one the day I returned to work after my heart surgery. I had a
bad accident and ended up in the hospital for one and a half weeks.
I was so happy when they told me that I was getting a pancreas. My family
was and still is so thankful for the most wonderful gift we have received.
My life has changed so much since receiving this gift. It is scary sometimes
now that my life is now more relaxed and I do not have to worry about
my blood sugars being too low or too high and my family does not have
to deal with those situations anymore.
Darla Evans
pancreas transplant 3/25/02
Shortly after Halloween in my third grade
year, our family physician told me I had diabetes. I had been filling
myself with all the candy I got, and for the next week was having
trouble controlling my bladder, especially at night. My body simply
couldn’t process all the sugar.
I had no idea what diabetes was, but I learned
fast. I had to. After a week’s stay in the hospital I was
sent home with a new diet and my first month’s supply of
insulin. One a day at first, then two a day. By the time I was
20, I was giving myself three insulin shots a day, then four when
I turned 26.
By my 32nd birthday I had taken nearly 20,000
insulin shots-in my legs, my buttocks, my arms and my stomach.
I developed hardened lumps in the muscles of
my upper arms and thighs. The diabetes was also damaging the tendons
in my shoulders. My right arm was operated on once and my left
one three times. My eyes were constantly hemorrhaging and I was
having laser treatments on them regularly--sometimes weekly--to
cauterize their damaged blood vessels. The nerves in my stomach
were failing and at times I had extreme difficulty digesting food.
I was a wreck. I began worrying about what
would be next. My doctor said there was a good chance my kidneys
would fail and that I would be on dialysis. I remember crying on
the way home and asking God for help.
Later that same day I attended a craft show.
At the last booth I visited I noticed a nurse doll with a syringe.
As I was looking at it, a woman approached me and said, “I’m
glad I don’t have to use those anymore. I used to be diabetic”.
“How did you ‘used to be’ a
diabetic?” I asked.
The woman told me she had undergone a pancreas
transplant, a relatively new procedure and something that I’d
never heard of. She filled me in on the details.
I felt an immediate sense of hope.
The woman directed me to The University of
Nebraska Medical Center to see if I would qualify for the same
procedure. I was in contact with the hospital’s transplant
unit a week later. After a series of interviews and testing, I
was put on the waiting list for a pancreas. Three months later
I got the call and on July 3, 1994, I received a new pancreas,
becoming just the 36th person in Nebraska to receive a pancreas
transplant.
For the first time in 23 years, I was no longer
diabetic.
No more shots or finger pricks to check my
blood sugar level. No more disorientating insulin reactions. No
more having to watch everything I ate. After returning home from
the hospital, my father-in-law brought me a French silk pie. It
was one of the most delicious things I ever tasted.
The transplant staff, my coordinator, Sherri,
the doctors, nurses and others, were absolutely fantastic throughout
the transplant and have been ever since. They’ve always taken
the time to answer my questions and arrange for my proper care.
The 10 years since my transplant haven’t
been without challenges. I have to make sure that I take my anti-rejection
medicines, drink plenty of water and take care of my health. But
my transplant has given me a freedom I never thought I would know.
Every now and then, I’ll have a dream
that I’ve forgotten to take my insulin shot. Then I wake
up and realize that it is just a past memory.
I’m living the dream, made possible by
my transplant at The Nebraska Medical Center.
Helen Radil
pancreas transplant 7/3/94
Omaha
Do you believe in miracles? I sure do. I was
diagnosed with diabetes at the age of four. Every day I was faced
with insulin shots, a restrictive diet, blood tests and frequent
doctor appointments. My wish was that I would someday have a pancreas
that would work. Little did I know that after almost twenty three
years my dream would come true. I have been a transplant patient
for eleven years and no longer require insulin or have to worry
about what I eat or what time I eat, plus the best thing; no sore
fingers. Without limitations I resumed a normal, enhanced life
and graduated with honors with a bachelor degree in psychobiology.
I also compete on Team Nebraska in the U.S Transplant Games.
The Nebraska Medical Center-Lied Transplant Center was the place for
me. The doctors, nurses, and staff are great. They listen to all you
questions and are available twenty four hours a day. And at the Lied
Center, your family can stay with you and be a part of the whole process.
So you see transplants are special gifts and miracles. They enhance or
save many lives each year.
Leanne Lind
Pancreas transplant recipient
March 1993 & January 1999
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