TRANSPLANT NEWS
email: transplant@neo.rr.com
A k r o n - C a n t o n Tr a n s p l a n t R e c i p i e n t s
December 21, 2010
Our meeting will be our annual
Celebration of Life Party at
North Canton Medical Foundation
Education Building A
6046 Whipple Ave. N.W.,North Canton
6:30p.m. - 8:30p.m.
Schedule:
6:30 Greeting. Buffet Dinner of
Broasted chicken, dinner rolls,
turkey chili, cheesy potatoes,
rice pilaf, hot vegetables, slaw,
veggie tray, baked corn, deviled
eggs, 4 bean salad, cookies and
desserts. *see note*
7:00 Introduction of Lifebanc
Representative
7:03 - 7:20 Dianna Phillips
7:20 - 7:35 Donor Family,
Joe & Janice Kerr, sharing 75 guests this year plus tables for
the story of their son “Big Mike”
and how he was able to save and
heal lives by being an organ and
tissue donor.
7:35 - 7:45 Recognition of
Living Donors auditorium for next year. So
7:45 - 8:00 Tree Ornament
Ceremony let me know how many, and help
8:00 - 8:20 Raffle/Door Prizes
We must clean up and be out of
the building by 8:30
1
Dianna will be bringing the latest
Transplant Recipient quilt to be
on display. The quilt squares
honoring Murl Price (Rosie’s
father) and Red Schlabach
(Ryan’s father) will be framed
by Sonya Callahan Of Lifebanc
and put on display since they
were too late to become part of
this quilt.
* Please note*
We will furnish water, coffee,
Sprite, & Zero Coca Cola. If you
wish any other drinks, please
call or email me so I can purchase
them on Monday.
North Canton Medical Auditorium
is being set up to accommodate
food, drinks and door prizes. At
the present time, we only have
reservations for 40 guests. We
should have a minimum of 50 in
order to be able to reserve the
please feel free to invite guests,
make the party a success.
Phone Mary at 330-453-8214 or
email: transplant@neo.rr.om
 t r a n s p l a n t n e w s

T.R.I.O. Christmas Tree

All in all this was the most
and money ever generated by a
The Akron Children’s T.R.I.O. tree for the
Hospital Tree Festival Festival. Susan Golden did
(by Rosie Price) an excellent job of making
The theme for this year’s the tree skirt and putting
tree was “Get On Board With this year’s tree together.
Organ Donation.” The tree Rosie Price helped to
was decorated with trains and decorate it and they had a
various train accessories - good time again this year
cars, tracks, railroad signs and bringing some much
an engineer’ cap. There were needed donations to
flashing red lights to another worthy cause.
symbolize crossing lights.
The major attractions to the ------------------------------
tree were the antique lantern - November Meeting
like the ones conductors used
to use, and old fashioned Thanks to Jim Gleason we
Lionel bank that when you were able to hold our very
deposited money in the top of first Virtual Town meeting.
the building, a train went Jacqui and Rick Scolaro,
around it on a track. There Randy Pelton and staff
was even a working clock in members of North Canton
the tower of the bank building! Medical helped make it
The biggest draw, I think possible. It was really quite
though, was the Lionel interesting to be able to
Christmas train that ran view each other as intro-
around the bottom of the tree ductions were made. Jim
with the little village behind it! presented the slide show
The top of the tree was “2010 TRIO National Services
festooned with a train that had Survey Results”. A copy of the
two of the blinking lights from slide show is available by
the strand inserted into it and email or if you wish, I can mail
and engineer’s cap with lights you a copy. We appreciate the
wrapped on the front across opportunity and look forward
the bill. to learning more in 2011.
 t r a n s p l a n t n e w s

Invitation from Greater

Financing for
Cleveland TRIO Chapter
Transplant Patients
AFTER HOLIDAY PARTY *by Marc Lacey, New York Times
(submitted by Randy Pelton)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

PHOENIX -Even physicians
1:30 p.m.
with decades of experience
Sterle’s Slovenian Country House
telling patients that their
1401 East 55th St.
lives are nearing an end are
Cleveland, Ohio 44103
having difficulty discussing
a potentially fatal condition
With the hubbub of the holidays
that has arisen in Arizona:
behind us, join your fellow TRIO
Death by budget cut.
members for a time of food, fun
and friendship. After Holiday
Effective at the beginning
Party is free to TRIO members
of October, Arizona stopped
and $15.00 for guests.
financing certain transplant
operations under the
RSVP NO LATER THAN
state’s version of Medicaid.
JANUARY 7TH BY CALLING
Many doctors say the
440-473-8979
decision amounts to a
THE 24-HOUR MESSAGE LINE
death sentence for some
OR VISIT
low-income patients, who
WWW.TRIOCLEVELAND.ORG
have little chance of
----------------------------------
survival without trans-
plants and lack the
The past is history
hundreds of dollars needed
The future is mystery to pay for them.
The only time we have is now
Just this moment.
 t r a n s p
“The most difficult
discussions are those that
involve patients who had
been on the donor list for
a year or more and now we
have to tell them they’re
not on the list anymore,”
said Dr. Rainer Guessner,
a transplant specialist at
the University of Arizona
College of Medicine. “The
frustration is tremendous.
It’s more than frustration.”
Organ transplants are already
the subject of a web of
regulations, which do not
guarantee that everyone in
need of a life-saving organ will
receive one. But Arizona’s
transplant specialists are
alarmed that patients who
were in line to receive
transplants one day were,
after the state’s budget cuts
to its Medicaid program ruled
ineligible the next -unless they
raised the money themselves.
Francisco Felix, 32, a father of
four who has hepatitis C and is
in need of a liver, received
news a few weeks ago that a
family friend was dying and
wanted to donate her liver to
him. But the budget cuts
meant he no longer qualified
for a state-financed transplant.
l a n t n e w s
He was prepared anyway at
Banner Good Samaritan
Medical Center as his relatives
scrambled to raise the needed
$200,000. When the money did
not come through, the liver
went to someone else on the
transplant list.
“I know times are tight and
cuts are needed, but you can’t
cut human lives,” said Mr.
Felix’s wife, Flor. “You just
can’t do that.”
Such high drama is unfolding
regularly here as more and
more of the roughly 100
people affected by the cuts are
becoming known: the father of
six who died before receiving a
bone marrow transplant, the
plumber in need of a new heart
and the high school basketball
coach who struggles to
breathe during games at high
altitudes as she awaits a lung
transplant.
“I appreciate the need for
budget restraints,” said
Dr. Andrew M/ Yeager, a
University of Arizona professor
who is director of the Blood
and Marrow Transplantation
Program at the Arizona Cancer
Center.
 t r a n s p
“But when one looks at a
potentially lifesaving treatment
admittedly expensive, and we
have data to support efficacy,
cuts like this are shortsighted
and sad.”
State Medicaid officials said
they recommended discontinu-
ing some transplants only after
assessing the success rate for
previous patients. Among
discontinued procedures are
lung transplants, liver
transplants for hepatitis C
patients and some bone
marrow and pancreas
transplants, which altogether
would save the state a about
$4.5 million a year.
“As an agency, we understand
there have been difficult cuts
and there will have to be more
difficult cuts looking forward, “
said Jennifer Carusetta, chief
legislative liaison at the state
Medicaid agency.
The issue has led to a fierce
political battle, with Democrats
condemning the reductions as
“Brewercare,” after Gov. Jan
Brewer.
l a n t n e w s
“We made it very clear at the
time of the vote that this was
a death sentence,” said State
Senator Leah Landrum Taylor,
a Democrat. “This is not a
luxury item. We’re not talking
about cosmetic surgery.”
The Republican governor has in
turn blamed “Obamacare,”
meaning the federal health
care overhaul, for the
transplant cuts even though
the Arizona vote came in
March, before President Obama
signed the bill into law.
But a top Republican, State
Representative John
Kavanaugh, has already
pledged to reconsider at least
some of the state’s cuts for
transplants when the
Legislature reconvenes in
January. Mr Kavanaugh, chair-
man of the Appropriations
Committee, said he does not
believe lawmakers had the full
picture of the effect of the cuts
on patients when they voted.
“It’s difficult to be linked to a
situation where people’s lives
are jeopardized and turned
upside down.” he said in an
interview.”
 t r a n s p l a n t n e w s

For instance, the state said

“Thankfully no one has that 13 of 14 patients under
dies as a result of this, the state’s health system
and I believe we have time who received bone marrow
to rectify this.” transplants from non-
relatives over a two-
Across the country, states year period died within
have restricted benefits to six months.
their Medicaid programs,
according to a 50-state But outside specialists said
survey published in the success rates were
September by the Kaiser considerably higher,
Commission on Medicaid particularly for leukemia
and the Uninsured. But patients in the first
none has gone as far as remission.
Arizona in eliminating
some transplants, which “Something needs to be
are considered optional done,” said Dr. Emmanuel
services under federal law. Katsanis, a bone marrow
transplant expert at the
Before the Legislature Uiversity of Arizona.
acted, Arizona’s Medicaid “There’s no doubt that
agency had provided an people aren’t going to make
analysis to lawmakers of it because of this decision.
the transplants that were What do you tell someone?
cut, which many health You need a transplant but
experts now say was you have to raise the
seriously flawed. money?”
Just before the Oct.1 deadline,
Mark Price, a father of six who
was fighting leukemia, learned
he needed a bone marrow
transplant. But his doctor,
Jeffrey R. Schriber, found donor
matches for his transplant the
very day the new rules went
into effect, and Mr. Price no
longer qualified for coverage
by the Arizona Health Care
Cost Containment System, the
formal name for the state’s
Medicaid program.
What happened next was at
once inspirational and heart-
rending.
Out of the blue, an anonymous
financial donor quickly stepped
forward and agreed to cover
the hundreds of thousands of
dollars needed for Mr. Price’s
surgery. But Mr. Price died last
weekend, after his cancer
returned before the operation
could be done. He was buried
on Thursday, next to his
grandfather.
“It’s not correct to say that he
died as a result of the cuts,”
said Dr. Schriber, who is active
in lobbying for financing to be
restored. “Did it prey on his
mind? Did it make his last days
more difficult? No doubt.”
Elsewhere, the fund-raising is
already underway. Mr Felix and
others are now trying to raise
enough for new organs through
NTAF, a nonprofit organization
based in Pennsylvania formerly
known as the National
Transplant Assistance Fund
that helps transplant recipients
pay for their medical costs.
National coverage of their
plight has already led to more
than $100,000 in donations
for some of the patients
affected by the budget cuts. The
Felix family is also planning a
yard sale this weekend so he
does not lose the chance to get
another liver.
There has been a flurry of
lobbying to persuade the
state to reverse the decision.
Dr. Gruessner said he and
others met with state health
officials recently to propose
other cuts associated with
transplant, like eliminating
tests typically conducted
before surgery.
If the Legislature does decide to
reconsider the cuts, one of the
affected people, a plumber and
father of three named Randy
Shepherd, 36, who has an
ailing heart and needs a
transplant, plans to attend the
debate.