Media inquiries: (804) 924-5679

U.VA. CELEBRATES 1,000TH KIDNEY TRANSPLANT

Today surgeons at the University of Virginia Strickler Transplant Center will perform U.Va.'s 1,000th kidney transplant. U.Va.'s first kidney transplant was on June 13, 1967; that recipient lived for 27 years with the new kidney. Since then, U.Va. surgeons have begun to perform pancreas, lung, liver and heart transplants.

Physicians and staff of the center will mark the occasion with transplant recipients, donors and their families at a reunion celebration on Saturday, October 30. The festivities, including live music, food and games, will take place at Claudius Crozet Park in Charlottesville, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

There has been much progress made in the area of transplantation. In recent years, we have performed life-saving surgeries that were not possible when the first kidney transplant was completed at U.Va. 32 years ago. We also have access to new medications to keep patients healthier while they wait for a transplant and to help patients live longer with new organs, said Dr. Tim Pruett, director of transplantation.

One of those celebrating on Saturday will be transplant recipient Bernice Wood. Wood says when she received a kidney from her sister at U.Va. in August 1995, she viewed it as a second chance at life. The Charlottesville resident wasted no time in applying to nursing school and is scheduled to graduate from Piedmont Virginia Community College's nursing program in May. I want to help people in the way that the transplant doctors and nurses were able to help me, Wood said.

According to United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), 12,955 kidney transplants were performed in 1998 in the U.S. As of September 1999, 43,200 people in the U.S. are registered and waiting for kidney transplants.

The Charles O. Strickler Transplant Center was created to streamline services for transplant patients. Because patient care cuts across departmental boundaries, the staff work with pharmacologists, laboratory services, blood bank employees, the organ procurement team, the respiratory care division and operating room and recovery room staff, to facilitate all aspects of a transplant. The center coordinates liver, kidney and pancreas transplants and provides support services for heart and lung transplants.

October 22, 1999