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Recipient Jerry Deere and donor Chuck Pace underwent kidney transplant surgeries May 23, 2003.
This happy story received significant coverage from local and Houston media. See the newspaper articles below.
CLICK HERE TO GO TO MAY 18 FACTS ARTICLE - DEERE FRIENDS
CLICK HERE TO GO TO MAY 22 FACTS ARTICLE - PACE, DEERE PREPARE FOR SURGERY
CLICK HERE TO GO TO MAY 25 FACTS ARTICLE - A NEW SUN RISES FOR JERRY DEERE
CLICK HERE TO GO TO MAY 23 HOUSTON CHRONICLE ARTICLE - MAN GETS NEW LEASE ON LIFE IN KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
Deere Friends
By Allison Pollan
The Facts
Published May 18, 2003
The wisdom Pastor John Hatch preaches from the First Baptist Church pulpit every Sunday has gained a following of 800 parishioners.
The message he delivered several months ago, while touching many, profoundly affected the lives of two.
Hatch called Jerry Deere, Brazoria County's district clerk for eight years, from his regular third-row seat to stand before the congregation.
As Deere wept, Hatch told church members of Deere's need for a kidney donor.
"This is the first instance where I remember making a public appeal from the pulpit for kidney donors, the potential for someone to help," Hatch said. "I've been a pastor for 37 years. It was my first time to have a situation where we knew there was a need for a donor."
Though several people came forward, a match was found in Chuck Pace, the church's minister of education.
The two will undergo surgery Friday in Houston, where one of Pace's kidneys will be removed and transplanted into Deere.
LAUGHTER HELPS
About five years ago, Deere started having kidney problems from the type II diabetes he has suffered for 35 years.
"Diabetes is an insidious disease because unlike cancer, you don't know where it is," Deere said. "It's working on your entire body very quietly. You don?t feel bad, but it's just eating you up silently inside."
The kidney problems that crept into his life five years ago consumed it three years later, when he was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease.
He has been undergoing dialysis for two years, and now is tethered to the portable, bedside dialysis machine nightly.
"I tell everybody this is the lady I have a date with every night," Deere said.
Deere's illness is concealed easily in his broad, 6-foot, 4-inch frame and by his easy sense of humor.
In conversation, he breezes past the gravity of his situation, telling stories and even joking about the coming surgery. Laughter helps, he said.
He likes to tell people Pace "will have a hole in his life" after the surgery and tell them about his post-transplant organ rejection fears.
"I'm not so worried about me rejecting his kidney, he's such a fine Christian man," Deere said. "I'm worried about his kidney rejecting me."
Despite his sometimes offhand comments, Deere is profoundly grateful for Pace's donation. He's grateful for the last two years.
FACING DEATH
Deere has spent a month in the hospital, seen his ankles swell to the size of cantaloupes and had more than 50 pounds of fluid drained from his body.
His stomach is scarred by multiple surgeries and he has battled anemia with transfusions and weekly shots.
Deere's wife, Debra-Jean, has seen her husband near death more times than she cares to recall.
"I have watched my husband almost die, where his eyes roll up to the back of his head, literally, at least seven times," Debra-Jean Deere said. "This has changed our whole family. It has been probably the hardest, especially two years, that I have gone through."
Caring for an ailing husband and two teenage daughters can be exhausting, she said.
"So often I feel like I've had to take care of Jerry, but also take care of my children to protect them from the horrors of a husband who really is terminally ill," she said. "It is considered a terminal illness unless, by the grace of God, someone steps forward and gives you a new kidney."
'A NO-BRAINER'
Pace said he decided to step forward shortly after hearing Hatch?s plea from the pulpit that Sunday.
But several people already had stepped forward, and one woman actually underwent the entire battery of tests before learning she would not be a suitable donor.
After hearing Deere was again without a donor, Pace discussed the possibility with his family, prayed about it and began asking questions about getting tested.
"I just believe there's a whole bunch of people who would do that," Pace said of donating a kidney. "I'm not all that special. To me, it's kind of a no-brainer.?
A self proclaimed needle-phobe, Pace now speaks calmly about rigorous tests he has undergone and about the impending surgery ? his first time under the knife since he was 18 months old.
The man who was afraid of needles before undergoing a series of shots in advance of a mission trip to Africa last year expresses no fear about the four-hour surgery or his six-week recovery.
"Since hearing I was an acceptable donor, it's been a matter of, 'How soon can we do this?'" Pace said.
Pace's wife of 22 years, Marilyn, said their 18-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son were part of the decision-making process.
"This has been a family decision from the very beginning," Marilyn Pace said. "When we first heard about Jerry's need for a kidney, that he was needing a transplant, Chuck said to me, 'I feel like this is something I need to do.'
"We have all had a peace about it through the whole process, knowing that if it wasn't supposed to be, he wouldn't be a match,"
WORDS ARE INADEQUATE
The Paces and Deeres learned on March 16 that a medical review board had approved the match.
Deere received the go-ahead from his surgeon on April 22, and the following day, the surgery was scheduled for May 23.
Deere said when he first learned the surgery had been set, he was in shock.
As the day draws near, he is beginning to get more excited. But with his excitement comes a feeling of inadequacy.
"Here's a man and he's undergoing a life-threatening procedure for an old, dumb cluck like me, and I'm just feeling very inadequate," Deere said. "I don't have the true words to express the emotions I've got for him, my family and the church."
"I've been told by many a good man in the church, 'God must have something in store for you,'" he said. "I don't know what that is, but I'm going to be open to it. I'm listening hard to see what the good Lord wants me to do."
Allison Pollan covers medical issues for The Facts. She may be reached at (979) 265-7411, ext. 249.
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Deere, Pace Prepare for Kidney Transplant
By Allison Pollan
The Facts
Published May 22, 2003
With one arm outstretched, Jerry Deere used his other hand to somewhat shield his eyes from the sight of 12 vials of blood being drawn from his veins.
Compared to previous tests associated with his upcoming kidney transplant, Deere said the most recent series of medical testing is easy.
"Compared to the last series, this is a cakewalk," Deere said.
Kidney donor Chuck Pace, who earlier endured his own round of invasive tests to ensure he was an acceptable donor, agreed.
"This is not a big day as far as procedures go," Pace said.
The men spent eight hours Tuesday at Houston's St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital undergoing the final battery of tests and consultations before the upcoming transplant surgery.
They completed admission papers, had blood drawn, EKG testing and had chest X-rays taken. They met with the transplant coordinator, anesthesiologist, nephrologist and surgeon.
And during the hours spent traversing the enormous medical facility's maze of color-coded, cavernous hallways, going to the different tests and consultations, they also learned more about the procedures each will undergo Friday.
FRIDAY
The men will arrive at St. Luke's at 6 a.m. and Pace will be wheeled into surgery first, at about 7:30 a.m.
Surgeon Charles Van Buren said that prior to being anesthetized, Pace will have an epidural to help ease pain following the two- to four-hour surgery.
Van Buren said it will take about an hour to remove the kidney, which will be kept on ice for about 45 minutes then flushed with a special solution before being implanted into Deere.
Deere will be taken into an adjoining surgical room about an hour after Pace, and the kidney will be placed in the lower part of Deere's abdomen, near his groin. Van Buren said this allows for easier access, in case it later needs to be biopsied, and means Deere's muscle will not have to be cut.
Both men will take about a month to six weeks to fully recover, but Pace will be in more pain following the surgery, since doctors will have to cut through muscle and remove part of a rib to access the kidney. Deere's recovery likely will take longer than Pace's because he is in poor health because of his kidney problems.
Van Buren said Pace's remaining kidney will grow in size by about 40 percent.
"It doesn't gain more cells," Van Buren said. "It just gradually grows larger as far as cells that are present."
Deere's malfunctioning kidneys actually will be left in his body, since even failed kidneys release chemicals that help the body work.
The kidneys are located just above the waist and toward the back. Their primary function is filtering blood by removing waste and unneeded fluid, but they also help control blood pressure, tell the body to make red blood cells and help keep bones strong.
Van Buren said 20 percent of the body's blood flows through the kidneys despite their relatively small size, which is comparable to a closed fist.
"They don't have 20 percent of the mass of the body, but they get 20 percent of the blood flow," Van Buren said. "The reason for that is because they have to do all this filtering."
DONATION CONSIDERATION
Deere's kidneys have not been properly filtering his blood for more than two years. A portable, bedside dialysis machine now assumes that task nightly.
Deere's kidney problems resulted from type II diabetes, which the National Kidney Foundation lists as the leading cause of chronic kidney failure.
As the fourth-leading cause of death in the United States, kidney disease strikes 20 million people and claims about 80,000 lives a year, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Foundation statistics state that in Texas, kidney disease affects every 25th person and causes every 30th death.
Because dialysis and transplant are the only treatment options, Deere said he is a strong advocate of organ donation. Deere said he encouraged people to consider donating their organs when they die.
"Here I am, one person, who could have benefited had someone donated a kidney," he said. "If they would donate organs, many, many people would benefit."
Deere has been on the donation list for two years, and only received a kidney when Pace came forward after hearing about the need at church.
Catherine Burch Graham, spokeswoman for LifeGift Organ Donation Center, said living, nonrelated donations like Pace's are becoming more common, but a dire need for organs remains.
"It's great when you have a living donor, either related or not, but not everybody has that option," Graham said.
She said almost 1,000 people currently are on the kidney waiting list in LifeGift's southeast region, consisting of Houston and surrounding counties, and more than 50,000 people are waiting for kidneys nationwide.
"There's a lot of need out there," Graham said.
Graham encouraged potential donors to inform family members of their wishes, since a donor card alone may not be enough once a person is deceased.
"The most important thing you can do is to make the decision to donate and share that decision with your family," Graham said.
For information about organ and tissue donation, contact LifeGift Organ Donation Center at (800) 633-6562 or visit the Web site at www.lifegift.org.
Allison Pollan covers health issues for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 265-7411, Ext. 249.
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A New Sun Rises for Jerry Deere
Check Your Work
By Allison Pollan
The Facts
Published May 25, 2003
As the sun rises outside of his Houston hospital room Friday, Chuck Pace points to his abdomen and recites the poem he authored about donating his kidney to friend Jerry Deere.
He is careful to tell those crowded into the room, “It’s not true yet, but it will be shortly.”
Almost eight hours later, the poem rings true.
Deere, 64, Brazoria County’s district clerk, has needed a kidney transplant since he was diagnosed with end-stage renal disease two years ago.
He was on a donor waiting list, but received a kidney only after his pastor mentioned the need at First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson last fall.
Pace, 44, the church’s minister of education, stepped forward to donate his kidney.
After months of tests to ensure the two were a compatible match, both men underwent the surgery Friday.
5:45 a.m.
The Paces arrive at Houston’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital at about 5:45 a.m. Friday.
Wife, Marilyn, and daughter, Catherine, 18, accompany Chuck to the hospital. Son, Collins, 15, has to stay home because he is getting a cold.
Both Marilyn and Catherine have been up all night, but Chuck has been able to catch a few hours sleep.
By the time Jerry and his wife, Debra-Jean, arrive at 6:15 a.m., Chuck is clothed in a thin gown and tucked into his hospital bed.
Jerry promptly goes to Chuck’s bed, leans over and gives him a kiss on the forehead.
Jerry and Debra-Jean gather with Marilyn and Catherine around Chuck’s hospital bed, join hands and pray.
Jerry admits he’s a bit “keyed up,” but is finally getting excited about the impending surgery.
Until now, he hasn’t let himself accept the reality of the situation, since his hopes twice have been dashed when possible donors were found to be unsuitable matches at the last minute.
But now, it appears nothing will stop the transplant from going forward.
“I was answering my phone all day yesterday, ‘Recipient,’” Jerry says.
6:30 a.m.
When Chuck’s mother, Marge Pace, and sister, Jacquie Frnka, file into the crowded hospital room about 6:30 a.m., Jerry has donned his hospital gown and lies in the bed next to Chuck’s bed.
Jerry takes Marge’s hand and thanks her.
“I was thinking last night, from your body to my body,” Jerry says. “Thank you so much for providing me with such a fine man. Without you, we wouldn’t have had him.”
Within minutes, Chuck is wheeled away to begin being prepped for surgery.
Soon after Chuck departs, his surgeon visits Jerry to see if he has any last-minute questions.
Jerry instead has a favor to ask the doctor.
“Take very good care of him. He’s very important to me,” Jerry says.
7 a.m.
First Baptist Church of Lake Jackson Pastor John Hatch arrives to pray with Jerry. He goes downstairs to see Chuck prior to the start of his surgery, but then heads back upstairs.
Another church member is in the room next to Jerry preparing for heart surgery, and Hatch counsels with him.
Because two members of the church are undergoing surgical procedures in the hospital Friday, the second floor waiting room is slowly beginning to fill by the time Chuck’s surgery begins about 9:15 a.m.
9:45 a.m.
Prior to Jerry being wheeled into the operating room at precisely 9:45 a.m., Debra-Jean leans over and kisses him.
“Don’t worry darlin’, I’m in good hands,” he tells her.
Jerry’s surgeon, Charles Van Buren, scrubs in for his sixth living-donor transplant surgery of the week.
“It’s actually one of the most terrific gifts anyone can offer,” Van Buren says of living donor transplants.
Van Buren says knowing so many people are praying for the surgery gives him confidence going into the operating room.
“Whenever the family and friends say they’re praying for you, it gives you a sense of reassurance and confidence in what you’re doing,” Van Buren says.
10:30 a.m.
As anesthesiologists put Jerry to sleep for the surgery, Pace’s kidney is almost ready for removal.
A crowd of about 20 people has gathered in the waiting room, putting together a 500-piece puzzle, playing hand-held video games and making conversation.
Marge Pace tells Debra-Jean how well-behaved her only son was as a child.
“I don’t think Chuck ever asked us for anything,” Marge says. “He never said, ‘I need.’ In my mind, he was just like perfect.”
Marge says she has come to terms with her son’s decision to undergo surgery despite her fears.
“I said, If that’s what you want to do and it’s the Lord’s will, I will just be praying,’ “ Marge says. “I think I told him at one point, ‘I’m very proud of you,’ ... but as a mama, I’m crumbling inside.”
Jacquie Frnka said she wouldn’t expect anything less of her brother than for him to give his kidney to someone in need.
“I just think it’s perfectly in character for him,” Frnka said. “I’m not a bit surprised by it, but I’m very proud of it.”
Chuck’s daughter said her father’s decision was inspiring.
“I was just in awe that my dad was willing to go through that,” Catherine says. “It was just amazing.”
11:10 a.m.
Now that both men are in surgery, Hatch leads the waiting room crowd in prayer. They pray for good results and strength for the surgeons and family members.
Fifty-five minutes later, Chuck’s surgeon is putting in the last couple of stitches, while the first part of Chuck’s kidney is being sewn into Jerry.
At 12:38 p.m., Chuck’s surgeon tells Marilyn her husband is “just fine.”
Marilyn and Marge are allowed to see Chuck about 30 minutes later. The two report back to the anxious crowd that Chuck is doing well and is alert.
“He’s asking questions,” Marilyn says. “He wants to know about Jerry.”
1:30 p.m.
Chuck has his answer. Van Buren reports that Jerry is doing well and the transplanted kidney already is making urine, a good sign.
“That’s what I prayed for,” Debra-Jean says. “That’s wonderful.”
The crowd joins hands and joins in prayer. They give thanks and pray for continued healing.
Debra-Jean is allowed to see her husband about 45 minutes later.
He’s groggy, but not so much to keep him from making a few jokes centering on his new kidney’s functioning capabilities.
A few beds away, Chuck also is able to muster a painful laugh as he discusses the television schedule he has planned for his weeklong stay at the hospital.
Through his grogginess, he also notes the joyous occasion.
“It’s a great day if Jerry’s doing well and the kidney’s already functioning,” Pace says.
At 2:55 p.m., Chuck again recites his poem. This time, it’s true.
Allison Pollan covers medical issues for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 265-7411, Ext. 249.
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Man Gets New Lease on Life in Kidney Transplant
By RICHARD STEWART
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
LAKE JACKSON -- Jerry Deere looked sadly at his church supper. The tiny piece of chicken-fried steak had barely a teaspoon of gravy on it. There were no mashed potatoes at all and the big mound of green beans didn't seem to make up for the lack of a roll.
He looked longingly at Chuck Pace's dinner. A quart of cream gravy swam on his big steak and poured off a giant mound of spuds. There was a roll the size of a softball and even a bowl of blackberry cobbler.
"But I wanted what he's having," Deere whined. "I'm going in for surgery. This is supposed to be my death meal. I'm supposed to get whatever I want."
Pace hesitated for just an instant, as if he would do the charitable thing and offer to exchange trays. Then he pulled his tray back and leaned toward Deere.
"Look," he said, "I'll give you my kidney, but I'm NOT gonna give you my chicken-fried steak."
The whole table at the First Baptist Church hall erupted into laughter.
They all knew Pace was about to give Deere no less a gift than life itself, and that's no small gift.
Friday morning the two men were rolled into adjoining operating rooms at St. Luke's Hospital in Houston. Doctors removed Pace's healthy left kidney and put it in Deere's abdomen.
By the time Deere woke up in the recovery room, his new kidney was already working.
Deere, Brazoria County's district clerk, is 6-foot-4 and looks robust. The 64-year-old man has the easy, friendly manner of a good politician who seems to know and have a kind word for everybody he comes near.
He's a former Houston policeman, banker and credit counselor. He claims to have been the first person in Texas to be first Democratic and then Republican party chairman of his county. He's been the district clerk since 1994. He looks anything but sick.
He was dying from end-stage renal disease.
Two years ago his kidneys stopped working after years of being assaulted by diabetes. Every night he spent 10 hours attached to a machine that pumped gallons of solutions into and out of his abdomen to draw the poisons out of his body.
Doctors told him he could expect to live only three to five years more using the machine every night. With a transplant from a live donor, the doctors said, he could expect 17 to 20 more years. But finding a donor isn't easy.
Kidneys are the most commonly transplanted organ, said Dr. Whitson Etheridge of the St. Luke's transplant team. Every year the hospital does almost 100 transplants. There could be many more, he said, if there were enough donors. Right now about 300 people are on the hospital's waiting list.
Most people who are lucky enough to have a transplant get one from a person who has died. But a kidney from a living donor works much better, Etheridge said.
"It doesn't have to stay out of the body as long." he said.
The best donor is an identical twin, he said, followed by a close family member. An unrelated donor, such as Pace, is still preferable to a transplant from a cadaver, Etheridge said.
It's very rare for the donor to be completely unrelated to the recipient, Etheridge said. "We've only had four or five of those. We'd like to encourage it."
Deere had a couple of other potential donors. One, a cousin, had signs that she may develop kidney disease and was rejected. Another had an unusual number of blood vessels going into and out of the kidney and was considered too much of a risk.
Then one Sunday, church pastor John Hatch called Deere to stand in front of the congregation. The pastor explained the need for a donor.
Pace and several others volunteered. Preliminary testing showed that Pace was a match. The two don't have to be genetic matches, Etheridge explained. Medicine will help Deere's body accept Pace's kidney.
Pace, 44, said his only worry was that a trip to Mozambique last year would put him out of the running. Although he'd been told he couldn't give blood for a year, tests showed that his kidney would do fine for the transplant.
The two men barely knew each other in the big church congregation, nevertheless, Pace said he felt that it was his duty to donate the kidney.
"I'm not a hero," he said. "Here's a chance to offer life to another individual. Why wouldn't I do that?"
"For me it's a no-brainer," Pace said.
"He's my hero," Deere said.
This kind of surgery is tougher on the donor than on the recipient, doctors said. Surgeons had to cut deep into Pace's flank to remove his kidney. Deere's kidneys remained in place and his new one was put just under the skin above his pelvis.
Both men were reported to be resting in the hospital's cardiovascular recovery unit Friday afternoon after their surgeries.
They are expected to be in the hospital for about five days.
Deere is all too familiar with hospitals. He's spent up to a month at a time in hospitals in recent years. He's seen his ankles swell up to the size of cantaloupes, he's had doctors draw more than 50 pounds of fluid from his body.
Pace, the church's minister of education, enjoys very good health. He hasn't had surgery since he was an infant.
And he has a lifelong fear of needles. "I just hate them," he said. "I have a phobia about it."
"He's going to have to get over that," joked Dr. Etheridge.
Humor and their faith helped the men through their ordeal. Just before the surgery, Pace met Deere and recited a poem Pace made up about the transplant.
"I had two kidneys, here and here," he said, pointing to his sides. "But now this kidney is inside Jerry Deere," he said, pointing at his left side.
Deere said he was humbled by Pace's gift.
"I never was a total rascal," Deere grinned. "I just looked at it two or three times," he said, explaining that there were times in his life when he wandered just a wee bit off the straight and narrow path.
"Now I'm getting this kidney from this fine, Christian man," Deere said. "I'm not at all worried about my body rejecting his kidney. I'm worried that his kidney will reject my body."
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