Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Donating Organs Saves Lives

By JOHN MILLER

Donating organs can save lives.

This is the message Valerie Jackson presented to the Gurdon Rotary Club, Oct. 13.

Jackson is works with the Arkansas Department of Motor Vehicles on getting donor registry for transplants. She is, herself, the recipient of a kidney and pancreas.

In fact, she was the fourth person in the state to receive a kidney-pancreas transplant. She is also a kidney-pancreas mentor, helping those on the waiting list deal with their problems.

"I don't remember ever being well," Jackson told the Rotarians. "I was sick all my life."

Jackson suffered from juvenile diabetes and was allergic to both the beef and pork made insulin available at the time. This was before the development of the sheep-based humulin.

Being insulin resistant made life difficult for Jackson, who had doctors tell her she would not live long.

However, she found a doctor who, himself, had juvenile diabetes and was more patient with her.

Because of her allergy, Jackson had to take her insulin intravenously. This allowed her to go to school and graduate.

After graduating high school, she attended college at Champagne, Ill., where she became entangled with an HMO and a doctor who told her he couldn't help her.

This led Jackson back to Arkansas.

But, during this time, Humulin was developed and she was able to live a somewhat normal life.

Except for the damage her body had already suffered because of her earlier life and battles with diabetes.

While visiting her father at Bismarck on Father's Day, she broke nine bones while walking across a room. This was not due to falling down or any other accident, just brittle bones.

In addition to this, her eyes began bleeding and her kidneys failed, forcing her to be put on dialysis.

Originally, doctors only looked at getting Jackson a kidney transplant from a member of her immediate family.

However, because of different medical problems, all members of her family were eventually ruled out, and she was placed on a waiting list.

Doctors told her it would be best if she were given a kidney and pancreas transplant once the organs became available. She was fortunate in that it didn't take long before a match was found and she was placed under the knife.

At the time, doctors had only given Jackson about a month to live. Something she learned only after the surgery.

Her problem was she was literally starving to death. Because of her dialysis she was told to eat sugars and fatty foods to keep her weight up. However, her diabetes wouldn't allow this kind of diet without further complications.

Once the transplant was done, successfully, Jackson was no longer a diabetic.

She must take drugs each day to prevent rejection of the organs, and wears braces on her legs, but she no longer needs the insulin injections nor dialysis treatments.

Because of the success she has enjoyed with the kidney-pancreas transplant, Jackson works with various support groups helping others cope with the waiting and the post-surgery trauma.

She said there's a big difference in people who have always been sick and those who suffered illness suddenly. Those who were always ill, she said, can deal with the situation better because they don't know any other way of life.

On the other hand, those whose ailments were sudden have problems coping because their bodies have betrayed them.

Now, Jackson works on spreading the word concerning the need for organ donors.