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Four months into her pregnancy, Lenor Barrows received a grim prognosis. Her son had an enlarged bladder, which doctors feared would lead to complications of his liver and heart. Initially, doctors didnt expect him to survive, but Barrows decided to go through with the pregnancy. When he was born, Eliaz was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder characterized by the growth of numerous cysts, and doctors told her that Eliza would eventually need a kidney transplant. So, like tens of thousands of other U.S. families on the waiting list for a kidney transplant at any given time, the Barrows hoped for the best but prepared for the worst.
After all, 17 people die every day in this country while waiting to receive a vital organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, lung or bone marrow, according to the National Kidney Foundation. Making the Barrows situation more challenging was the fact that Eliazs blood type was B+, which is found in fewer than 10 percent of the population. Born to a Cape Verdean mother and Puerto Rican father, young Eliaz faced still another challenge: the shortage of minority organ donors nationwide. According to the National Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program, minority donors account for only about 25 percent of the available donor pool.
After many months of waiting, the Barrows received the phone call that would save their sons life: A match had been found. Last April, when he was 2, Children's Hospital Boston doctors successfully performed the kidney transplant. "Waiting for the transplant was tough," Lenora says. "It felt like a ton of bricks were lifted off our shoulders when we got the call. It hurts to know that one life had to be lost to give my son a chance for life, and Im so appreciative that it breaks my heart."
This story has a happy ending, and 50,000 other minority children and adults registered on the countrys transplant waiting list are hoping for the same outcome. August 1 marks National Minority Organ Donor Awareness Day, an annual nationwide observance to raise awareness of the need for donation and transplantation within the multicultural community. More than half of those on waiting lists for organ donation are racial and ethnic minorities. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, minorities have a particularly high need for organ transplants because some diseases are found more frequently in racial and ethnic minority populations than in the general population. For example, African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders and Hispanics are three times more likely than whites to suffer from end-stage renal (kidney) disease, often as the result of high blood pressure and other conditions.
In recognition of National Minority Organ Donor Awareness Day, Children's clinicians are putting even more emphasis on the importance of organ donation for minorities. "Its so important for minorities because of the success rate of a transplant is better with a close match," says Camilla Cook, RN, CPN, a staff nurse on Children's Organ Donor Awareness Committee. Because certain blood types are more common in ethnic minority populations, increasing the number of minority donors can increase the chances for those on the waiting list. "No matter what color, race or background, we all have the power to save a life through organ and tissue donation," says Eva Gomez, RN, MSN, Staff Development specialist. "Its important that with the rising need for organs in this country, all minorities become invested in educating their community about organ donation."
If it weren't for her own health issues, Lenora says she would have immediately signed up as an organ donor. But many members of her family have agreed to become organ donors as a result of Eliaz's ordeal. "Just to think—my son would have died had it not been for that donor," she says.
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