Saturday, May 8, 2010

Referred to Johns Hopkins

Mark and I went to the Transplant Clinic at UK this week for our last follow up appointment. Now that Mark has a dialysis routine established and has been weaned from the immunosuppression medications, he is officially being referred to Johns Hopkins. The Chief of the Transplant Team at UK has been in contact with a physician at Johns Hopkins regarding Mark's two failed kidney transplants. The team at Johns Hopkins is doing a research study on transplantation in individuals who present much like Mark. UK is sending Mark's medical record to Hopkins this week. There is no guarantee that Hopkins will accept Mark or will transplant him again. But, there is at least hope of another transplant for now. We should find out by the end of the month if Hopkins accepted the referral and (if so) when we will go to Baltimore. Please continue praying for Mark. If Hopkins decides Mark is not a candidate for another transplant, we will have to come to terms with being on dialysis for life. We will post information about the referral to Johns Hopkins as soon as we find out more!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting..and we do remember Mark in prayer daily...and will continue to do so. There is always HOPE..and then God is there no matter what...but at least you are guided to go to John Hopkins and pursue what they think!
Love ya' all.
Jane & Tom Cawood

Jaime Penix said...

We will continue to pray for you guys! We will keep our fingers crossed for good news from Johns Hopkins.

elxcel said...

Hello, I just received my 2nd Kidney transplant after 11 years on hemo-dialysis. This is the first post I've read within your site. If you don't mind me asking, do they know why he's lost 2 kidneys? If it's antibody related, have they considered IVIG? Due to the 1st kidney, and various blood transfusions, my antibody levels were not good, to say the least. I was removed from active status on UNOS. Long story short... IVIG made it possible for me to receive my 2nd.

Kellie said...

Thanks for the comment. Mark did try IVIG following the second transplant. However, the treatment did not help to make the transplanted kidney function any better. I have read about the use of IVIG prior to transplantation. This may be a component of the treatment at Hopkins, but I am unsure. Thanks for the information. God Bless.