GARY KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM Charlotte Torres wanted to donate a kidney to brother John Molina after seeing his worsening condition.

Maui resident
grateful for gift
of sister’s kidney

He is among many patients
nationwide who have benefited
from a living donor

---

By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

WAILUKU >> Maui resident John Molina said he appreciates the simple things in life such as brushing his teeth and going to bed, since his sister gave him one of her kidneys.

"It's a new life for me right now," said Molina, 58. "It's amazing."

Molina, 58, a retired shift supervisor for Maui Electric Co., is among the growing number of kidney dialysis patients who have benefited from a living person donating an organ.

"The living donation from a living donor has been rising throughout the country," said Robyn Kaufman, executive director of the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii.

Molina's sister Charlotte Torres, who was eligible for the surgery, said she wanted to donate one of her two kidneys to her younger brother because of his worsening condition.

"I saw how he was suffering and how we weren't going to have him much longer," she said.

At St. Francis Medical Center on Oahu, the center for kidney transplants in Hawaii, donations of a kidney from living persons have increased to 13 last year from six in 1999 and are expected to reach 24 this year, the center said.

Catherine Bailey, the center's evaluation coordinator, said more public education and improved surgical methods have contributed to the increase in kidney transplants.

Using laproscopic surgery, physicians are able to make a 1.5-inch incision near the belly button to remove the kidney from a donor during five hours of surgery, she said.

The former method required an incision of about 7 inches.

The rate of success is relatively high, with 80 percent of patients undergoing a transplant living longer than five years, Bailey said.

Kaufman said the demand is high for kidney transplants, and 90 percent of the 330 organ transplant patients in Hawaii are waiting for kidney donors. The donation of a kidney from an eligible family member eliminates the two- to seven-year wait for a matching donor.

While people with blood type A, AB or O can expect a wait of two to three years for a kidney, the wait for people such as Molina with type B blood is closer to seven years, officials said.

Molina said he became a diabetic at age 45, and his disease progressed until his kidneys failed him about four years ago. Molina said he was beginning to feel the effects of prolonged treatment on a dialysis machine.

Bailey said the machine filters only 20 percent of the blood, often resulting in patients feeling fatigue and an itchiness, and facing the potential of other health problems.

Two of Molina's other sisters were ineligible as donors because they also had diabetes, and physicians felt a third sister was too young to determine whether she might become a diabetic as well.

Torres, 60, who works as a recovery nurse at Maui Memorial Medical Center, said she was aware of the risks. But she said she wanted to help her brother and improve his quality of life.

Because of the lingering effects of anesthesia on people with advancing age, Torres underwent a modified surgical procedure for removal of a kidney that involved a 4-inch incision and less than three hours of surgery, officials said.

For Torres and Molina, who both had the surgery on March 14, the hospital stay after the operation was four days.

Molina said before his transplant, he had to attach the dialysis machine to himself for eight hours before he went to bed.

Molina said he felt tired even after the dialysis treatment, and recently he was having problems sleeping. He stayed awake as late as 5 a.m.

"I just hated the nights," he said.

He said his sister offered to donate one of her kidneys to him about a year ago, but he refused because he did not want to put her in the position of having one kidney.

"What if something happened to her kidney? You don't want to ruin someone's life," he said.

Molina said he finally agreed after his condition continued to worsen. He said since the transplant, people have commented on the improvement in the color of his skin.

Molina said he has more energy and now enjoys gardening.

"I'm just thankful for my sister," he said.

Torres said she and her brother decided to share their story so that others could understand the living-donors alternative.

She said she is feeling fine and is happy with the results of the surgery. "Just seeing him makes me happy," she said.