July 14, 1999
All in the family: husband-and-wife surgeons perform kidney transplant from wife to husband
A team of transplant surgeons at University of Washington Medical Center has performed what they believe is a first in the annals of transplant surgery: Husband and wife themselves, they retrieved a donor kidney from a wife and transplanted it into her ailing husband.
Dr. Lucy Wrenshall used minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery to remove a kidney from Becky Chandler of Stanwood. The precious kidney was carried to the adjoining operating room, where Wrenshall’s husband, Dr. Brian Stevens, transplanted it into Chandler’s husband, Michael Chandler.
Michael Chandler, 48, who has taught wood technology and coached girls’ sports teams at Stanwood High School for 23 years, was on kidney dialysis three or four times a week for a year and a half. He had been airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in 1996 with a bleed in his brain, the result of extremely high blood pressure that apparently also caused his kidneys to fail.
Becky Chandler is a 45-year-old marathoner and triathlete who regularly runs eight miles a day and owns a video store in nearby Sedro Woolley. They have a grown daughter.
“I never had second thoughts about giving this kidney to Michael,” said Becky. “But even a year ago when we started talking about this, it was a more difficult procedure.” Her excellent physical condition has also made the process go more smoothly, she said.
The donation was made easier in part because of Wrenshall’s expertise at removing the donor kidney using a minimally invasive surgical technique called laparoscopic nephrectomy.
“The traditional open surgery requires an approximately nine-inch incision,” said Wrenshall. “In contrast, the laparoscopic technique uses three tiny incisions through which the instruments are inserted, and one three- to four-inch incision through which the kidney is retrieved. The shorter recovery time after donating is a major benefit.”
National statistics compiled by UNOS, the United Network for Organ Sharing, tell of the compelling need for more living kidney donors. More than 40,000 people being kept alive by kidney dialysis are currently listed on the kidney-transplant waiting list. In 1996, the most recent year for which statistics are available, there were just 3,553 living donors and 5,417 cadaver donors.
“We hope that, as people learn of this less invasive option for kidney removal, more people will consider becoming living donors,” said Wrenshall. Advances in controlling organ rejection are now making possible transplants between people who are less than perfect matches, like the Chandlers.
Wrenshall has performed more than 20 minimally invasive kidney retrievals since joining the UW faculty in 1997, giving her the most experience in the Seattle area. She and her husband met during their transplant fellowships at the University of Minnesota, where both received their Ph.D.s. Wrenshall received her M.D. from Pennsylvania State University, and Stevens received his M.D. from the University of California at Davis.
The Chandlers are recovering well. Becky Chandler is returning to her exercise regimen, and Michael Chandler is learning to cope with the large numbers of pills he needs on a daily basis to avoid organ rejection. He felt his strength beginning to return almost immediately after surgery. “I taught right up until the transplant in June,” he said, “but I was tired of feeling tired. I would do some yard work and then have to go in and take a nap. Since the transplant I feel like my old self again.” He’s hoping to be able to go on a planned fishing trip in late July.
The Wrenshall-Stevens family will be otherwise occupied in late July. They are expecting the birth of a daughter, who will join her brother Robert, 3 1/2. “I plan to work right up until I go into labor,” said Wrenshall.
