Wednesday, October 06, 1999
Transplant reflects faith, skill
Ex-student's kidney placed in minister
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A team of surgeons removed a healthy kidney from 18-year-old Lisa Mahoney on Tuesday and successfully sewed it into the diabetes-ravaged body of her former Sunday school teacher, the Rev. Melvin Lusk.
A crowd of relatives and friends reached out to comfort his wife and her parents as they sat and paced for more than four hours in the Christ Hospital waiting room.
But everywhere, Patty Lusk felt the hands of God.
“God has just given me a supernatural peace about this. I knew it was God's touch because everything has just gone so smooth,” said Mrs. Lusk a couple of hours after the ordeal. “Within myself, I couldn't hold up like that. God has just strengthened us.”
Faith gave Ms. Mahoney the courage to become a living donor in the absence of a suitable cadaver donor, her family said.
The Rev. Mr. Lusk was luckier than the roughly 250 people in Greater Cincinnati awaiting transplants, according to Life Center, which coordinates the region's organ donations.
Ms. Mahoney underwent months of emotional and physical tests to relieve the weakness and pain that has afflicted her 47-year-old teacher and friend for more than two years.
“(The Lusks) were good to her when she was little, and she just didn't want to see him suffer,” said Ms. Mahoney's mother, Charlene Merrill. “... If he had died and she didn't do something, she would never forgive herself.”
Both patients were in serious condition Tuesday, as expected after this type of operation, said Health Alliance spokeswoman Pat Samson.
Ms. Mahoney should be home by this weekend and will be “up and running around as normal” within a couple of weeks, her mother said.
The Rev. Mr. Lusk will spend one or two days in the intensive care unit before being transferred to a private room. It will take about a month for his body to adjust to anti-rejection medication, Mrs. Lusk said.
Then he hopes to return to Delhi Christian Center in Sedamsville, singing in the church choir alongside his wife and teaching Sunday school. He will spend time with friends and family, especially his granddaughter.
“It's given Mel a new chance on life. And I thank God every day, and I won't ever take that for granted,” Mrs. Lusk said.
Neither family will forget the lessons they have learned about friendship, giving and the need for organ donors. Virtually every member of each family has filled out an organ donor card since learning about the Rev. Mr. Lusk's need.
Life Center officials said that if more people were willing to give the organs of their loved ones who have died, fewer live donors would be needed. But in September, the families of all of the 10 potential cadaver donors in the Tristate refused.
“(Ms. Mahoney) wouldn't have to go through this if other people donated,” said assistant director Mark Sommerville. “She wouldn't have to take this risk.”
Her family said they are proud that she did it — but they are all relieved it's over.
“It's hard to see somebody you love go through anything. It's frightening and you're not sure of the outcome. But we just felt that God's hand was with her,” Mrs. Merrill said.
“When you see the family that receives (the organ) and their relief and their joy, it's all worth it.”
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