At age thirteen my world was turned upside down. The summer between my eighth and ninth grade changed my life forever. I went from rarely stepping foot in a doctor's office, to becoming so familiar with them I frequently found myself napping on the exam table. I spent the next several months being passed from one specialist to the next like unidentified matter. However, at age fourteen, I discovered the answer to my failing health: I was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. Two years later, after three different hospitals, countless doctors and several surgeries, I was the fortunate recipient of a liver transplant. A Transplanted Life: My Story and Guide on Transplant Success was written for two reasons: to share my story and offer useful, practical advice to patients and parents alike, who are going through a similar experience. Because of the dual purpose, the book is separated into two parts.

Talks to teens and offers practical advice and suggestions for coping with and surviving the situation of when a family member has an organ transplant, or when they are personally facing an organ transplant. It covers how to deal with events that happen before, during, and after the surgery.

The process of transplant is about restoring life. I mean how truly amazing is modern medicine and science! They can now take organs from a person who is brain dead (yes, a person must be brain dead to be able to donate their organs; heart still beating, but no brain activity) and medication taken twice or more daily can keep that organ functioning and give new life to a person who, half a century ago, would be dead. And not just new life, but for many a life they had never dreamed of living.

Kidney failure, dialysis, and transplantation are three words that most people hope never to hear in their lifetimes. Mina Gonzales wasnt so lucky. In her memoir, she shares the story of her experiences, a story about choices, destiny, and the ultimate sacrifice that gives life. She knows the pitfalls and setbacks one faces when dealing with the realities of dialysis, organ donation, and kidney transplantation. She recalls those here, along with her journey of personal discovery, family strength, and community involvement. She faced trials and tribulations during dialysis but ultimately emerged victorious, having survived a kidney transplant for more than fifteen years. Her story could be anyones story. Along with her experiences, she focuses on facing the truth about life and recognizing the gift that it is. For anyone facing kidney failure, Gonzales provides the information that you need to know. She addresses not only broad questions of life through the lens of her personal experiences, but also specific questions relating to living with kidney failure: What is dialysis? What types are there? How long is a session? My Choice My Destiny: My Kidney Transplant Journey is intended to be used as a daily spiritual guide to help get through the long hours of dialysis. It is an honest expression of hope that you too will find your donor angel and live a long and healthy life.

At the age of eleven, Mark Greene nearly died. Neither he nor his parents knew that Mark suffered from end stage renal disease; he would need a kidney transplant to survive. Now, more than twenty-six years after his successful transplant operation, Greene tells the story of his survival following that operation. Currently, there are approximately 170,000 organ transplant recipients in the United States, each with unique stories but sharing the commonality of improved quality of life. In Life and Hope, Greene discusses important principles that will not only contribute to the longevity of organ transplants, but also help recipients continue to improve their overall well-being. He blends personal experience and academic research to both teach and enlighten in a way that brings meaning to organ transplantation. Greene shares a very personal story about his ordeal with a misdiagnosed illness that nearly took his life and nearly destroyed his family. His story is one of transformation, as he moves from the brink of death to a life full of meaninga unique story and real-life experience that demonstrates how the organ transplant experience so eloquently contributes to the human experience.

Meet your first 'transplant buddy.' Laila had barely started dating Jeff when he was hospitalized for testing that uncovered a potentially fatal kidney disorder. In this book, she tells how their relationship survived and even thrived through the experience of kidney dialysis and transplant. This useful guide outlines many of the decisions transplant patients face with their families, and encourages strategies that support your success. In its mix of practical tips and personal stories, you'll learn about life during dialysis, finding a kidney donor, why you might need Medicare, overcoming unexpected challenges even on surgery day, and managing a healthy life after transplant. Helpful Pro Tips highlight valuable guidance a transplant team might not raise. Caregivers and transplant patients are addressed in everyday English - you'll feel like 'Team Williams' is in the same room cheering you on! You will want this book with you as you contemplate or enter the transplant journey. Take your transplant journey with someone who knows the road.

A fitness instructor with heart failure chronicles her amazing transplant success story and shares her tips for heart health and overall wellness.

Against a global backdrop of wartime suffering and postwar hope, Borrowing Life gathers the personal histories of the men and women behind the team that enabled and performed the modern medical miracle of the world's first successful organ transplant. "An extraordinary work. Shelley Fraser Mickle has not only provided a detailed, fascinating documentation of the world's first successful organ transplant, but she has also painted the lives of those involved--doctors, patients, family members--so vividly that the reader is completely enthralled and emotionally invested in their grieved losses as well as their successes. The result is a beautiful tribute to medical science as well as to humanity." Jill McCorkle, NYT bestselling author of Life After Life "Working with Dr. Moore, Dr. Murray and Dr, Vandam to create the painting commemorating their historic operation and the research leading up to it was the greatest adventure of my artistic career. Having my painting on the cover of Borrowing Life renews that excitement, for I know what grand adventure is waiting for the reader." Joel Babb, artist "I was so very pleased to be involved with Shelley as she wrote her captivating, compelling book. I only wish that Ron could be here with me to read it." Cynthia Herrick, wife of the first successful organ transplant donor "Had these men and women not worked diligently to save the life of Charles Woods, I and my 5 brothers and 3 sisters, would not have been born. Charles Woods and Miriam Woods are my parents. It is thrilling to read Ms Mickle's book as it closely mirrors the stories our dad and mom shared with us as children. The amazing thing is that as a disfigured war hero, our dad embraced his appearance as a badge of honor." David Woods Performed at Boston's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in 1954, the first successful kidney transplant was the culmination of years of grit, compassion, and the pursuit of excellence by a remarkable medical team--Nobel Prize-winning surgeon Joseph Murray, his boss and fellow surgeon Francis Moore, and British scientist and fellow Nobel laureate Peter Medawar. Drawing on the lives of these members of the Greatest Generation, Borrowing Life creates a compelling narrative that begins in wartime and tracks decades of the ups and downs, personal and professional, of these inspiring men and their achievements, which continue to benefit humankind in so many ways.

Two families came together in the waiting room of a Denver hospital on May 11, 2004, to await kidney transplants for loved ones. In the first operation, Gregg Farber, 32, a real estate executive, donated a kidney to his father, Steve, a 60-year-old Denver lawyer and power broker. In the second, Guatemalan refugee and landscaper Ernesto Delaroca, also 32, donated a kidney to his sister Sandra, 19, a restaurant worker. The stories of how the Farber and Delaroca families made their separate journeys to the operating room offers insight into the hazards and inequities of a cobbled-together system that each year leaves more than 98,000 gravely ill Americans on the waiting list for a life-saving transplant. Steve Farber's experience inspired him to write On the List with Harlan Abrahams. They examine the ethical, legal, political, and economic debates over organ transplant policies, expose the gray market for transplants in Third World countries, and propose solutions to one of the world's most pressing health issues. An informative and inspiring guide to those who face transplant operations, the book is also a call to reform a system that is truly, and fatally, flawed.