Community Corner
YEAR in REVIEW: St. Michael Man's Kidney Transplant a True Gift
Six months ago, St. Michael father, Lucas Hansen gave his father one of his kidneys. Since then, the Hansens have found life doesn't provide the happy ending.
Editor's note: Throughout December we will be updating St. Michael Patch readers from throughout 2011, our first full year here in STMA. These were some of our biggest stories of the past 12 months.
It isn't the ending everyone hopes for. But Lucas Hansen still calls his life-chaning decision one he doesn't regret.
"I would do it all over again," Hansen said earlier this week.
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Last June, with hopes of improving his father's life.
Hansen's father, Mickey, had to have the transplant kidney removed last Friday, after months of issues.
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"It turned out that my dad had a rare blood disorder that affects the H factor, and that was causing a lot of issues," Luke said. "It's intrigued a lot of doctors and researchers as this was the second case in 15 years."
"He's been back on dialysis for a few months now," Luke's wife, Sarah, added.
A combined medical team that included doctors from both the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic tried many things to get the kidney to work, and to get Mick healthy. At one point, they were giving him 13 units of blood every other day to help replace the H factor.
"The kidney wasn't doing anything. The anti-rejection drugs he was on are hard on the body. He was already on dialysis again, so it was decided to remove it because just doing the dialysis would be less damaging than doing no dialysis," explained Luke.
Once Mick recovers from the removal of the transplant kidney, he will have dialysis five hours a day three days a week.
"His perspective has totally changed on that," Sarah said. "A year ago, he said he didn't want to be on dialysis, and that it was preventing him from travelling. Now he is OK with it, and has even said he'll still be able to travel and just get dialysis wherever he is."
Mick, was worried that Luke would be disappointed. Luke is clear that he's not.
"We did everything we could and it didn't work. Of course, selfishly, I wish it would have worked. But I would do the same thing over again."
That says a lot about Luke as a person. Giving up a kidney is no small thing. He lost about 15 pounds and his energy level really decreased after the operation. Still, he has "no regrets."