More than 20 years ago, Kapa’a resident David Torres, diagnosed with hereditary cancer that affects his entire family, went through a double kidney transplant operation that saved his life. Because of someone else’s organ, Torres reached some of his life
More than 20 years ago, Kapa’a resident David Torres, diagnosed with hereditary cancer that affects his entire family, went through a double kidney transplant operation that saved his life.
Because of someone else’s organ, Torres reached some of his life goals. Today, he is the pastor of Hanapepe Missionary Church.
Three years ago, Wendy Kruse of ‘Ele’ele lost her 16-year-old daughter, Lokelani, in an auto accident.
Lokelani’s deep-seated wish, made when she was an eighth grader at Waimea Canyon School, was to be an organ donor. Her selflessness has extended the lives of six people, including three from Hawai’i.
Her family had no qualms about following her wishes. “That was what she wanted, because she voiced it,” Wendy Kruse said.
Hoping to draw public attention to the importance of organ donations in Hawai’i, Kruse, Torres and a handful of Kauaian donor families attended a proclamation ceremony at the Lihu’e Civic Center Thursday declaring April as Organ Tissue and Eye Awareness Month.
Kaua`i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka met with Christine Bogee of the Organ Donor Center of Hawai’i on O’ahu and others at an event to celebrate what was described as the success of the transplanting of organs and tissues.
The event also honored donors and their families and encouraged other families to discuss and make decisions on organ donations.
There aren’t enough donors in Hawai’i, according to the Organ Donor Center. Each year, 10 to 12 people in the state die waiting for an organ transplant, the organization said.
Last year, 29 Hawai’i residents made organ donations. This year, the organs of six Hawai’i residents, including one from Kaua’i, were donated for 18 transplants, Bogee said.
Of the 75,000 people in the United States who are waiting for transplants, 255 live in Hawai’i.
Torres, of Kapa’a, was 21 years old when he was diagnosed with Von Hipple-Lindau Syndrome, a congenital cancer that has cut short the life of many family members.
Because of the disease, his father, Elias, went blind, and eventually died at age 33. Relatives died before they reached the age of 35, Torres said.
In 1978, 40 members of his family underwent testing that showed most suffered from the disease. The revelation brought shock and relief at the same time, Torres said.
“Yeah, there was shock, but there was relief because we could put a name to it, and we have gotten treatment,” Torres said.
In 1980, Torres, at age 23, received two kidneys from a donor from Phoenix, Ariz., becoming the first Kaua’i resident to undergo a successful kidney transplant.
Torres said his son, David Jr., 23, may need the same operation because of a faulty kidney. The son went through surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Maryland to remove 32 tumors from his kidney.
If Torres Jr.’s kidney cannot be saved, the only alternative may be to get a kidney transplant.
Chris Relacion’s mother, Marveline, 65, died last year while waiting for a liver transplant. He said the Lihu’e woman was diagnosed with a failing liver in 1998 and was waiting for a replacement liver. She died not because of the lack of the availability of a liver, but because she had the wrong insurance, her son said. Her Medicare coverage only allowed for an organ transplant outside Hawai’i.
As her condition worsened, her doctor decided to have her flown to a hospital in San Francisco for the operation, Relacion said. Had his mother been covered by Hawai’i Medical Service Association, she could have gone through a organ transplant operation in Hawai’i, Relacion said.
It is only in recent years that HMSA has decided to cover that type of organ transplant, Relacion said.
Wendy Kruse said she has attended the last three county proclamation ceremonies for Organ Tissue and Eye Awareness Month to show her support for organ donations.
“I feel education is important, and that it makes people aware of the wishes of their loved ones,” she said.
Transplants in Hawai’i are done at the St. Francis Transplant Institute on O’ahu. If there isn’t a match of a donated organ with a potential donor recipient, the organ is sent to the mainland for use there, Bogee said.
Staff writer Lester Chang can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
