Woman Giving Brother a Kidney

NEW YORK (AP) -- The arrow sliced across the backyard -- unimpeded, unswerving, from 10-year-old Patty's bow to her kid brother's head.
And then, chaos.
Six-year-old Vincent Campbell stumbled into his mother's arms, an arrow stuck behind his ear. Patty, fear stricken, fled and hid. Their infuriated dad chased the neighbor who owned the bow and arrow.
As it turned out, Vinny wasn't seriously hurt. They found Patty four hours later, cowering in the garbage bin under the house.
The day Patty used Vinny for target practice would become family legend. In fact, it was an accident -- he had darted in front of her. She never wanted to hurt him.
``Vinny was always my baby brother,'' she says. ``I kind of always looked out for him.''
Thirty-three years later, Patty -- now Patricia McDonough -- was still looking out for her brother. Vinny's health was failing; he needed a kidney, and Patty had one to give.
But Patty had something else, too: an intimate understanding of the world of organ transplants. She is a nurse, and for the past six years her mission has been to ensure that people who need organs get them.
Now, suddenly, Patty was a donor, not a nurse. After all those years of counseling patients, how would it feel to BE one? Would it happen the way she had always told the donors? Or would she be surprised?
All of these questions were secondary, of course. Her major concern was helping her brother cheat death again.
When Vinny was born, a nurse picked him up, her hand behind his head to support his neck. And that is why, 39 years later, he would need a kidney transplant.
The nurse had a boil on one of her fingers. Staph.
The infection traveled through Vinny's left ear, and he remained in the hospital for a year. Doctors removed part of his mastoid bone; they bombarded him with antibiotics. Finally, they sent him home.

``My mother said the doctors told her she was bringing him home from the hospital to die, that he wouldn't survive his second year, that he would be dwarfed and retarded,'' Patty says. ``I tell him the retarded part was accurate.''
The Campbells were a close-knit and devoutly Catholic family; the kids, three boys and two girls, watched out for each other. Vinny was a sickly child. But his health problems ebbed when he was 5, and soon he was playing football and hockey in the streets of Flushing, Queens.
What no one realized was the effect of all those antibiotics. Vinny was allergic to penicillin, so other, experimental drugs were used. The result: two damaged kidneys, ticking like time bombs.
Vinny grew up, graduated from St. John's University, went to work at the New York City Transit Authority as a computer specialist, got married -- all without a clue that he was in less-than-perfect health.
Patty, too, went to St. John's. But only for a while. ``I wanted to take off a year, and while I was working at Waldbaum's (supermarket), I decided I better go back to school.''
Without too much thought, she decided to become a nurse.
For years, she worked in coronary intensive care. Then, six years ago, she shifted direction and went into transplant medicine.
First she went to work as a procurement coordinator. Hearing of a potential donor -- someone who was brain dead and might offer several organs -- she would rush to the hospital. She would help supervise the care and would counsel their families.
``You're asking families to put aside their own pain and help somebody else. ... It's really a privilege to work with these families,'' she says.
Then, she would consult a list of those awaiting transplants and call their doctors: ``I have a 42-year-old man who has a cranial hemorrhage. This is a heart offer.'' Finally, she would make travel arrangements.
``It's absolutely fascinating work,'' she says. But it is often frustrating, as well.
Sixty thousand people need transplants in this country, 6,000 in New York alone; they wait, and wait, and sometimes die before acceptable donors -- donors who have living wills or whose families are willing to allow organs to be removed -- can be found.
``It is unconscionable that in a country like this, there should be so many invaluable organs going to waste,'' says Dr. Vivian A. Tellis, head of the kidney transplant program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
Late last year, Mrs. McDonough went to work at Montefiore as kidney transplant coordinator, interviewing recipients and matching them with donors. ``It's more than a job for her. It's a calling,'' said Tellis.
She also was responsible for managing Montefiore's list of 975 patients awaiting kidney transplants -- keeping in touch, making sure their condition was stable.
She was well aware of the condition of one patient on the list: Vincent Campbell.
When Vinny was 30, he underwent routine medical tests and received the surprise of his life: His kidneys were beginning to fail. Doctors told him that with a low protein diet, he might slow the deterioration.
It worked for five years, and then creatinine levels in his blood -- markers of renal failure -- began to rise again.
Vinny and his wife, Trina. resolved not to tell their sons -- Kevin, 5, and Brian, 8 -- that their father was sick. Trina's father had just died of complications of diabetes, and had gone through a hellish experience with dialysis; there was no need to frighten the boys.
``I just had enough steam to go to work and come home and crash,'' says Vinny, a jocular man who resembles the actor Nathan Lane.
``Don't worry, I'll find you a kidney,'' his sister, the transplant expert, told him.
Last April, Vinny's brothers and sisters and his wife decided to go en masse for testing to see if any of them might donate a kidney.
The results were good. His sister Judy and brother Christopher were perfect matches; Pat matched half of the six antigen markers, and Robert and Trina also matched, although not as well.
Judy was excluded because she suffers from multiple sclerosis. So plans were set: Christopher would donate his kidney in December.
Except that three days before the operation, doctors determined that Christopher had three arteries connected to his kidneys, an abnormality that ruled him out as a donor.
Pat was next in line.
All along, ``There was this little voice inside me that said, `I know it's going to be me,''' she recalls. And now it was.
Despite all of her seasoning, despite her commitment to transplants, she had an instant of doubt. ``I kind of had myself a good cry over it,'' she says, ``and after that, I had this peacefulness, this certainty that everything was going to be fine.''
Her husband, Terence, a telecommunications executive, was supportive, as were her three teen-agers, Sean, Terence and Kathleen: ``When a teen-ager thinks that you've done something cool, it's a very good thing.''
Her patients ``just thought it was the greatest thing. They said, `Maybe we'll be roommates.'''
Her colleagues did for her what she had done for so many other would-be donors. ``They really did their damnedest to make sure that I was doing this for the right reason, not just because I was a transplant professional and it was expected of me.''
The surgery was scheduled for Jan. 13; Vin and Pat were admitted the night before.
``We laughed a lot, my brother and I. We don't take anything too seriously. I told him (that with a female kidney), every 28 days, he'd probably get a little irritable. He might have to buy some Midol. Don't worry about it.''
Then, she tears up. ``There's no way to thank anybody for a body part. So he just told me that he loved me. And I told him that I loved him.''
They were fully armed for surgery. They were both doused with holy water from Lourdes. They had rosary beads, and a fragment of St. Anthony's bone, and Vinny had a friend's scapular.
Tellis performed the operation; it was, he says, uneventful. Vinny felt better almost immediately. He looks forward to coaching his sons' soccer and baseball teams, to ``getting back my life.''
His sister intends to use her experience as a transplant recruiting tool. ``I'll show them my scar, if that's what it takes. ... They shouldn't say no. If I could do it, they should do it.''
She was unprepared for one side effect of the operation -- an incredible, powerful feeling of bliss. ``It's a really special, emotional thing. We all kind of live our lives and do the best we can. But to have an opportunity to do something so right is just outstanding. You feel so good. ... I look at my brother and think, `I did that for him.'''
Vinny and Patty talk every day now, joking, exchanging news of their respective recoveries, remembering old times, like that long-ago moment when Patty's errant arrow lodged in Vinny's head.
``Now we're even, Vin,'' said Vinny's big sister.
``Fine,'' said Patty's little brother.

♥♥♥Math Festival♥♥♥

Monday…

It’s Monday again!!! Back to school… This day is quite irritating but enjoying. I rode a tricycle ingoing to school and sad to say the driver is quite “ewan”. I reached the Montessori School before reaching the school. Good thing, the flag ceremony is not yet starting. Upon arriving to school, I rush to do my assignment in Filipino. Classes started. During our Math time, we continue playing Damath. My opponent is Froiland. Sad to say, I lost. Sir Mojica is not around and we don’t have any seat work in Statistics. We just talked about different stories featured in “Maalaala Mo Kaya”. We also don’t have classes in Physics, so we just do our Christmas decorations. For our English period, we lecture about bibliography. We did not have our quiz in Music and we just continue doing our Christmas decorations. We checked our previous activities in Analytic Geometry. Our teachers told us that our class will be separated again. (hmmppp… I don’t like it…) We did an activity in Chemistry. We used some balloons. I enjoy inflating it. I enjoy while watching Ma’am Bisa doing the activity. (^_^peaceout…) I brought home the balloon that we used and I gave it to Princess (my cousin).

Tuesday…

We are all busy reviewing for Aralin Panglipunan. (hmmpp… judgment day) While waiting for Ma’am Nazareno to come, Ma’am Tenny talked to us about our grades and about the section. The judgment day was postponed because Ma’am Nazareno arrived late. We do the MPS of the exams of the first year students in Math. Haayyy.. It is quite boring. At last, Sir Mojica attends the class. He taught us a new lesson, but I can’t understand the discussion. The lesson in Physics is confusing for me. My group mates and I were not able to answer the activity correctly. We also have MPS during our Enlish. While having it, we are also busy reviewing for our quiz in Music. As usual, our discussion in Health is boring again. Haaayy.. New routine for our Anal. Geom. We all expected that MA’am Rhea will be our teacher, but then it was Ma’am Saburao. We did another activity in Chemistry. Though I am afraid to do it, I am still able to do it. While holding the can, my hands are shaking. After the activity, we thought that we will be dismissed already. But, we still had a quiz.





Wednesday…

I arrived at school late. Then, we cleaned our respective areas. After cleaning, we changed our clothes and wear our P.E. uniform. Though, Ma’am Malou is not around, we still have to play table tennis for the sake of having grades. My opponent is Chala. We both don’t know how to play; Luckily, I won over her. We discussed about polynomials during our Math period. Then, we eat crinkles and pancit malabon during recess. We just have a seat work during statistics and we do it in the gym because Ma’am Tenny had her class in our room. We discussed another lesson in Physics and I can’t understand it again. Our group’s answer in the activity is wrong again. I just bought lunch in 7-11 and I ate it in the room with Elaidia. We had A.P. period today. Ma’am Nazareno gave us several sermons. (Nitrogen, Nitrogen, anu ba naman kayo???) I really felt pressured during her class.

.
Thursday…

Most of the teachers did not attend the class. We are also very few because others are practicing for the math jingle and others are preparing for the Math festival. During vacant times, I played the tower of hannoi. It is confusing but it is also enjoying in some ways. In the morning, Ma’am Ureta is the only teacher who attends the class. Because we are only few, we are given a lot of chance to answer and we received a lot of “tara”. After eating lunch, everyone is busy reviewing for Araling Panlipunan. We are all afraid to be scolded again. Ma’am Tenny did not attend the class also, but during her period we are asked to decorate the LRC. It is enjoying. Then, we hurriedly go back to the room to study. After some time, Ma’am Nazareno arrived. I thing she’s in the mood today. The flow of discussion is good and enjoying. All of us were able to answer. During recess time, we are all eager to tell our other classmates that we are not scolded in AP.

Friday…

It’s Math Festival. Everyone seems to very busy. Some students cannot enter their room because their room will be used as a station for the Math Trail. We cleaned our areas first. Then, we stayed in the room. We went in the gym for the Math quiz bee. Sad to say, the students are not allowed to stayed there and watch. We just stay near the guidance to watch the practice of the math jingle. After watching, I eat recess with Camille and Micah. Then, we stayed near the TRC to have some chitchats. Camille and I talked about are elementary days. It is fun remembering past moments. We went in the gym for the quiz bee. Haaayyyy…We try answering some problems, but they are really complicated. Though the quiz is not yet done, we decided to leave the gym. We stayed in the canteen. Then, we eat lunch with Micah, Paulo, and Zaborah. After eating, I stayed in the LC with Camille and Roselle. Everyone is excited to see our Ms. Mathaba. Kathreen arrived and she is really pretty. The program started. I really admire the way Kathreen walks on stage. She is really confident. Her dance is also good. How I wish,I could dance that way too. After that, it’s Math Jingle turn. hmmppp… They are soooooooo… good. “Theorem… Theorem…rem…rem… Pythagorean!!!” Our Math Jingle won but our Math Taba lost.

New Routine!!!!

New Routine!!!

Last week, our adviser announced that we will be having a new schedule starting this Monday. The schedule is quite confusing.

Every Monday, our first subject will be Filipino, then Mathematics. Actually, it is just the same as the previous schedule. After the recess, we will have Araling Panlipunan. (terrible..) After studying about world history, we will discuss about atoms and molecules. Our next subject will be Chemistry. As what we expected, we are always dismissed late. Sometimes, the other students were already through eating their lunch. Though we are really hungry, we can still managed to laugh. We enjoy our lunch always. It seems that we own the canteen, because we are the only students eating at that moment. After eating lunch, we are immediately fixing our things and preparing ourselves for the next subject. Our next subject is Statistics. haaayyy…. I really felt sleepy during 12:30 – 1:30.Whlie discussing I often got bored and fell asleep. (can’t blame myself. huh) After staying in the Physics Laboratory, we have to go back to our room and have our Physics. Our schedule in elective did not change. It is still after recess in the afternoon. Our last subject is English every Monday to Thursday.

From 12:30 to 1:30 our schedule is just the same. Statistics, Physics, Elective and English. Every Tuesday, our first subject will be Araling Panlipunan then, Mathematics, then Health, lastly, Chemistry. The Schedule for Mathematics and Chemistry is just the same for the whole week. On Wednesday, PE will be our first subject and Filipino will be after recess. During Thursday, Filipino will be our first subject and Araling Panlipunan will be after the recess. Every Friday, English is our first subject and Music and Arts is after recess. We still have vacant period from 4:00-5:00, every Friday, which is allotted for club meetings.