ORGAN DONATIONS OFFER A SECOND CHANCE

At one point in time, the prospect of a heart transplant sounded like a joke to Bill Alcorn of Sikeston. But five years and a massive heart attack later, Alcorn was praying for a heart donation to keep him alive.

He was lucky. A donated heart was transplanted into his body, giving him a second chance on life.

His transplant was coordinated through Mid-America Transplant Services, headquartered in St. Louis. During 1993, the organization set donation records in all categories.

"While we are pleased with these results," said Dean Kappel, president and CEO of Mid-America Transplant Services, "we are still far short of meeting the increasing demand for transplantable organs. There is currently an all-time high of 636 on our local waiting list and over 33,000 nationally, many of whom will die before a suitable matching organ becomes available."

Heart recipient Alcorn, now 56 and the father of two grown children, is pleased too. His donated heart has given him three additional years, and counting.

"I had a heart attack in February 1985, and the doctor at that time told me I might have to have a heart transplant. That was not an acceptable option at the time," he said. "I was feeling well and actually made a joke out of it."

In November 1990, Alcorn had a second heart attack. "That just about took me out of the picture," he said.

He was transferred to St. Louis and underwent emergency bypass surgery to buy him a little time. "I didn't come to until about a month later.

"My situation started to deteriorate, and they had to hook me up to a heart pump machine," Alcorn said. "I had to lay there on my back 24 hours a day. I was not even allowed to turn on my side.

"It was like torture," he added. "For four months I lay there like that. That was when I had big attitude change, realizing I couldn't live like that -- my quality of life down to almost zero."

At the time, Alcorn was first on a list of 150 patients waiting for a donated heart. In March 1991, a suitable donor heart became available.

Alcorn celebrates his third anniversary as a heart recipient on March 27.

While he still visits heart specialists at least every three months and will take anti-rejection drugs the rest of his life, Alcorn said his quality of life has returned.

"It's at a slower pace, but I am able to do most of the things I want to," he said. "It sure beats the alternative."

Just before Christmas, Alcorn learned a little about his heart donor, a man from Michigan. "You don't ever find out very much," he explained, "But I wanted to write his family a thank you letter."

Alcorn does stained glass work and made a stained glass angel to send to the family. "I don't know exactly where it is, but I hope someone knows the heart of their loved one has made all the difference in the world to me."

Cheri Huckstep Reed, patient care manager of the Intensive Care Unit at St. Francis Medical Center, helps coordinate organ donation efforts for the hospital.

Reed said people often ask her if asking a family about organ donation causes the family members added pain. She believes the answer is no.

"It puts them in control when they are out of control," she said. "It lets them make decisions and sometimes it gives a purpose and meaning to the death. The reason why they were on this earth may be to go on and live for other people."

A potential organ donor is someone younger than 70, who is brain dead but has a heart beat and blood pressure. On the other hand, most tissues can be removed up to 12 hours after death.

"Obviously families have a lot of questions when it comes to organ donation," Reed said. "Their family member looks pretty good. They are on a ventilator, but the doctor is telling them they are dead."

Reed said the scenario for organ donors is as follows: The patient is diagnosed brain dead. The physician informs the family and calls an organ donor representative to present information to the family.

If the family agrees, information about the donor is sent to Mid America Transplant Services. The data is entered into a nationwide computer system to match up a potential recipient.

Doctors from Mid-America Transplant coordinate the organ donation.

The donated organs could be sent to St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, or a host of other cities.

"Mid America Transplant sends a letter to the donor family about the transplant patient," Reed said.

Reed said four organ donations occurred at St. Francis in November. The hospital averages six to eight organ donations a year. Tissue donations are much more common because tissue can be donated after a natural death.

Transplants have become excepted medical practice and often result in improved quality of life for the recipient. But Reed said donations also can improve the quality of life for the family of a donor.

"A lot of these organ donors are from these awful deaths, murders or suicides," Reed said. "How else does a family get through something like other than passing on life to someone else."

Annually, Reed helps coordinate an Organ Tissue Donor Awareness Walk during National Organ Tissue Awareness Week. This year's seventh annual event is planned April 21 at 6 p.m. starting a the KFVS building on Broadway.

Kappel, with Mid-America Transplant Services, said a 10 percent increase was recorded in the number of vital organ donors with 97, compared to the previous record of 88 in 1992.

These 97 donors accounted for 313 transplantable organs, up from 275 organs in 1992. In addition, Mid-America Transplant Services imported 135 organs from other parts of the country, a 39 percent increase.

"The bottom line is that we procured and imported a total of 448 lifesaving and life-improving organs in 1993, a 20 percent increase over our 1992 total," said Kappel.

The tissue division of the Mid-America Eye and Tissue Bank saw a 35 percent increase in bone donors, 201, compared to 149 in 1992. Heart valve donors remained the same at 96.

The eye division achieved a 10 percent increase with 1,907 total eyes procured from 954 donors, surpassing its 1992 record of 1,728 eyes procured from 864 donors. 744 eyes were used for corneal transplants and the remainder for research.

Mid-America Transplant Services is a private, not-for-profit corporation which coordinates vital organ and tissue procurement throughout Missouri, Southern Illinois and Northern Arkansas. The service is based in St. Louis and has branch offices in Springfield, Mo. and Jonesboro, Ark.