Last modified: 11 May 2000
Team Illinois Disqualified from Transplant Games
Judges Cite Rampant Steroid Use Among Team Members
Story inside…
Nashville Cats
It's getting closer. September 26-28 is just around the corner. What? The TRIO Annual Meeting, of course. The official brochures should be out by the end of July, but for all of you planners, here's the deal.
The meeting will be held at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville (615-889-1000 for reservations). Room rates are $119 per room for an outside view and $149 for a room with a balcony and an inside courtyard view (for my money, I'll take the outside room and when the spirit moves me, take the extra $30, go sit in the courtyard and spend it on pina coladas). The room rate is about $100 off the normal price and is good for 3 days before and 3 days after the conference in case you want to extend the trip into a vacation. You can make reservations now.
A conference fee of $125 for TRIO members will include three days full of meetings, continental breakfast every day, one lunch, one reception, the Gift of Life dinner, a cruise on the General Jackson riverboat and more… For you Country Music fans, rumor has it that Barbara Mandrell and maybe Tammy Wynette will be on hand. Our own Illinois secretary of State George Ryan will be the keynote speaker and it will be a wonderful time. See you in Music City!
Take Me Out to the Ball Game…
On July 25, the Illinois Secretary of State, the Mickey Mantle Foundation and the Chicago White Sox will host Organ/Tissue Donor Night at Comiskey Park. Eleven hundred transplant recipients, candidates, their families and friends, living donors and donor families are expected to attend. TRIO Chicago member and liver candidate Ron Rank and his barbershop quartet, Chicago Daze, will be on hand to sing the national anthem to open the game. A representative of the transplant community will throw out the first pitch.
Ed Farmer, former Sox pitcher and kidney recipient will broadcast the game and promote our cause. Organ donation messages will be featured on the Jumbotron scoreboard and the message that transplantation works will be visible everywhere.
As an added bonus, if the Sox win, Ron and his group will be giving free haircuts in centerfield to the first 100 recipients after the game. The featured style will be the "hair Jordan" in honor of the newest donor awareness spokesperson, Bulls superstar Michael Jordan. Coupons for the ladies will also be available for their very own "worm perm", made famous by that other Bulls star - you know who…
UPMC Begins Artificial Liver Trial
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has begun trial of a bio-artificial liver device. The device, developed by HemoCleanse, Inc. of West Lafayette, Indiana, is meant to stabilize critically ill patients before they undergo liver transplantation. The trial patients to be evaluated all will suffer from encephalopathy. Encephalopathy occurs when the liver cannot sufficiently function to filter toxins out of the bloodstream. The toxins flow through the bloodstream to the brain causing confusion, and in severe cases, coma can result.
The HemoCleanse system treats blood outside of the body in a fashion similar to kidney dialysis. Blood is removed from the patient through a catheter placed in the neck or groin and filtered through a mixture of charcoal and chemicals to absorb the toxins, then returned to the body
Two similar systems are also slated for study. One uses a plasma filter to remove additional protein-bound toxins in the blood and stabilize level of bilirubin and other enzymes that soar in patients with liver disease. The other adds encapsulated pig liver cells to achieve a similar effect.
Results of the study will determine if larger clinical trials are warranted.
You Are What You Eat..
And some of us sure eat strange things, that's for sure. But if you gotta eat, you may as well eat right, at least that's what TRIO Chicago member and nutritionist extraordinaire Lisa Bebenek says. And to show you just how to eat right (or what happens when you eat wrong), Lisa will give a presentation focusing on nutrition at the August 8 TRIO Chicago meeting. This meeting is the kick-off for the great TRIO Chicago cookbook project and you won't want to miss it!
Speaking of Eating…
After Lisa Bebenek's presentation on nutrition at the TRIO Chicago meeting on August 8, our own Chef Michael (Lamoureux) will conduct a recipe exchange as a kick-off for our up-coming Official TRIO Chicago Members Favorite Recipes Cookbook. Please bring a copy of your favorite low-fat and/or healthy recipe to share with the group. (If you can't make the meeting, mail or fax it in to our office.) Okay, you can send in the high-fat, unhealthy ones that you really use to feed your family with too! AND DON'T FORGET THE DESERTS! All recipes will be personally tested in the world renown TRIO Test Kitchens. Any really weird or unappetizing ones will be personally tested by Chef Lamoureux.
We will run each recipe through a nutrition analyzer program to get calories, fat, carbohydrates, etc., which will be included in the cookbook. We plan to have the cookbook ready in plenty of time for holiday gift-giving. But only if we get lots of delicious input from you.
Carl Lewis
For all of you Olympic fans, here's a chance to own a book about the 1996 Olympics signed by Mr. Olympic himself, Carl Lewis, and all of the book proceeds go to TRIO. See the details on the insert included with this newsletter. Rumor has it that Carl will also be on hand for the TRIO Annual Meeting in Nashville. Who knows???
In Memory of Jacqueline Graham
Michelle Graham's mother, Jacqueline, lost her battle with complications following a liver transplant.. Throughout her illness, Michelle lent her mother her incredible strength, perseverance and optimism, and fought for her life. Our heartfelt sympathies are with Michelle and her family.
God saw that she was very tired,
And a cure was not to be.
So he put his arms around her,
And whispered "Come to Me."
With tearful eyes we watched her suffer,
And we saw her fade away.
Although we loved her deeply,
We could not make her stay.
A golden heart stopped beating,
And hard working hands to rest.
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the very best.
Member Activities
On June 25, TRIO Chicago member George Weiszmann gave a presentation on organ donation to a group of 75 senior citizens at the Calumet Park fieldhouse in Chicago. George wowed the group with his accounts of his own personal story and the desperate need for organ donors. Irene Palanchar, a TRIO Chicago member in the audience, commented that George was the first speaker she remembered who was not only able to keep everybody awake but actually keep their attention. Way to go, George!
TRIO Chicago members could also be seen all week during the Taste of Chicago. The University of Chicago, with support from the State of Illinois and the National Kidney Foundation, hosted a donor awareness display during the Taste. Team Illinois members from the U.S. Transplant Games were there to strut their stuff and several TRIO Chicago members, including John Butorac, Mary Palanchar, Christine Duda, Tom and Elizabeth Bradley and Joan and John Gill were there to help the cause. Thanks to all for your help.
Donna Isaacson is now proudly flying an American flag that was once flown over the U.S. Capitol. Donna, a liver recipient, requested that the flag be flown in honor of her second transplant anniversary on February 17. The flag was presented to her by Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Donna received some nice coverage in her local newspaper. Donna's goal for next year is to meet Bulls superstar Michael Jordan whose birthday just happens to fall on Donna's transplant anniversary. Good luck Donna… and can I come too???
Here's one that'll warm your heart. On July 20, Carol Palfenier will visit a summer church camp where her daughter Cherie is a counselor. Cherie was unable to attend the camp last year because Carol was waiting for her liver transplant (which was done on August 6). The kids at camp decided on a prayer project to pray for Carol's successful transplant and her recovery. Well, Carol is going to camp to show the kids that their project worked just fine and thank them for their efforts. Carol will also take some of the new Michael Jordan donor awareness cards for the kids. They can see firsthand the power of prayer and transplantation.
Finally, Mike Lamoureux recently attended a benefit for a 10 year old boy named Jonathan Callaghan. Jonathan suffers from a rare form of childhood cancer called neuro-blastoma. The FDA has not approved treatment for this disease yet in the United States, so Jonathan's only hope lies in a medical center in Amsterdam, Holland. Three treatments and three separate trips to Holland will be required. A fund has been established to help with the families expenses. Contributions can be sent to the Jonathan Callaghan Fund, c/o The Northern Trust Company, Attn: Katy Miller, 265 E Deerpath, Lake Forest, IL 60045. I'm sure Jonathan could use your prayers, too.
Pep Rally
TRIO Chicago will honor the Transplant Games' un-disqualified Team Illinois at a pep rally at the regular meeting August 8. All of the team members will be invited. About a third of the team are TRIO Chicago members John Butorac, Scott Frank, Janice Gill, Joan Gill, Brian Hain, Moira Lydon, Stan Moy and Jill Sederberg. Be sure to come and cheer on our athletes and trainers and coaches! Look for a special appearance by our own cheering TRIO duo, Sandy Nawracaj and Jeannie Kaminski, the heart-warming, lung-lovely, liver-lively, perky as a pancreas, no-kidney-ing official team cheer leaders, who call themselves the Dreamers.
Last Meeting
Well, if you weren't there, you missed it! And according to Dr. Eva Vasquez, if you were taking enough prednisone, even if you were there, you might have missed it!
The July meeting featured Bill Brandt of Sandoz and Dr. Vasquez of the University of Illinois on the subject of transplant medications. They thoroughly covered Neoral and the rest of the most frequently used meds, including their purpose and side effects. Everyone there learned a lot and really enjoyed the presentations. Many thanks to Bill and Eva.
ROBI Stats
July statistics from the Regional Organ Bank of Illinois:
Note: ROBI serves the northern Illinois and northwest Indiana areas.
ROBI Waiting List July, 1996
| Kidney | 1,729 |
| Kidney-Pancreas | 117 |
| Heart | 159 |
| Liver | 611 |
| Lung | 42 |
| Heart-Lung | 6 |
| Pancreas | 31 |
| Intestine | 2 |
| Total | 2,697 |
Organs Recovered for Transplantation/Research 1995
(Includes only those organs recovered in ROBI's service area)
| Kidney | 479 |
| Heart | 119 |
| Liver | 195 |
| Lung | 127 |
| Heart-Lung | 3 |
| Pancreas | 110 |
| Intestine | 5 |
| Total | 1,038 |
Organ Transplants Performed 1995
(Does not include out-of-state organs brought in for transplant)
| Kidney | 407 |
| Heart | 93 |
| Liver | 172 |
| Lung | 49 |
| Heart-Lung | 3 |
| Pancreas | 47 |
| Intestine | 3 |
| Total | 774 |
Transplant Video Journal
The Transplant Video Journal is a new and exciting program designed to provide the transplant community with information and insight into the trends, innovations and personalities in this rapidly evolving field of medicine. It covers scientific, regulatory and donor awareness issues on a nationwide basis and provides an effective means of staying informed about developments in transplantation. The inaugural video, available to members from the TRIO Chicago library has several interesting segments:
The video, produced by Sandoz Pharma and Transcom Media is produced quarterly and available at no charge to the transplant community.
Take a New Look at an Old Friend?
Such a deal we have for you! At the August 8 meeting you will learn all about nutrition - how to eat better for a healthy, happy life. And since we all will need to go right out grocery shopping to stock up on all of the wonderful news foods to make us eat better, what better place to shop than your local Jewel Food Store??
Why Jewel, you ask? Because Jewel has agree to run a Shop & Share program for the benefit of TRIO Chicago. Under this program, on August 26, 27 and 28, Jewel will donate 5% of your total purchases to TRIO Chicago. All you need to do is present the cashier at any Chicagoland Jewel store with a Shop & Share Identification Slip at the time of purchase and Jewel will send us a check. Samples of the certificate are enclosed with this newsletter.
Anyone can participate to help TRIO, so please make as many copies of the certificate as you want and pass them out to your friends, family, neighbors, church groups, transplant centers and anywhere else you can think of, with one exception. Shop & Share certificates cannot be distributed on Jewel property or near Jewel stores. Anyone caught doing this will void the entire program for TRIO.
Thanks to Mike Lamoureux and his family for coordinating this effort - but don't thank Mike too much - his ego is already getting too big - and, anyway, this gets him out of selling green pins for a while.
Seriously, please help in this effort if you can. We can really use the money.
Anniversaries
Jan Jeffers Heart 8/01/95
Carol Palfenier Liver 8/06/95
Jack Berg Kidney 8/12/95
Charles Wallace Liver 8/14/91
Transplantation Works
Scott Frank, heart recipient, and three-on-three basketball star, had the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch on its trip through Chicago. Scott's route was on the University of Chicago leg of the journey. Congratulations to Scott on being selected for this honor.
Continuing his mission to demonstrate that Transplantation Works, Scott and his team, the Spare Parts, will participate in the annual Shoot the Bull tournament in Grant Park July 21.
Team Illinois Disqualified from Transplant Games
Judges Cite Rampant Steroid Use Among Team Members
Salt Lake City. After random drug testing revealed a shocking level of steroid use among Team Illinois participants in the 1996 U.S. Transplant Games, judges today disqualified the entire team. "I've never seen such total disregard for ethics in a single team" said games spokesperson Dr. M. Howard. Howard's colleague, Dr. L. Fine echoed his disbelief. Dr. C. Howard, head of the Transplant Games medical advisory board was currently undergoing treatment for a contusion to the eye injury suffered through a contact with Dr. M. Howard's index digit and was unavailable for comment.
Team Illinois captain, Amy Gardner, pointed out in her appeal of the disqualification, that Team Illinois members were transplant recipients and most of them were required to take steroids as part of their daily medication. She further cited that fact almost all of the athletes on the other teams were also required steroid users and therefore, the drugs provided no competitive advantage. "If you disqualify Team Illinois, you must disqualify everyone!" Amy boldly asserted.
Upon further examination, Dr. Hugo T. Quackenbush, Transplant Games Chancellor, lifted the disqualification and Team Illinois will be allowed to participate. Drs. Fine and Howard were last seen in a heated discussion which was fast turning physical.
I bet all of you Team Illinois members
were freaking out when you read the first page! - Ed.
This page provided to TransWeb by John Butorac of TRIO Chicago.
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