A surgical team recently completed the nation’s one-millionth successful organ transplant. Starting with the first kidney transplant in 1954, medical innovation has expanded organ transplant procedures to include hearts, lungs, livers and more.
Every day, there are 100,000 people across the country waiting for an organ donation.
For a while, Sarah Beckstrom’s infant son, Charlie was on a transplant list waiting for a liver.
“We ended up actually going to the Sanford Children’s Castle in Sioux Falls for – it was like five days just to figure out what was going on, and he was diagnosed with alpha-one antitrypsin deficiency,” Beckstrom said.
The Beckstrom family is from Mitchell, and Charlie suffers from a genetic disorder that affects his lungs and liver.
“And he was just getting more yellow, it just didn’t look good," Beckstrom said. "His stomach was distended from inflammation, and his liver just wasn’t working. He was born in July, and I think it was before Christmas his G.I. doctor in Sioux Falls had suggested he be referred on for transplantation.”
At ten-and-a-half months old, Charlie Beckstrom got a transplant.
“It’s so overwhelming and I have so much gratitude to the donor and their family, and we know nothing about them," Beckstrom said. "The only thing we know is this child was 13 at the time. And I’ve written them, but it took a while to write them because it was really hard to adequately express how much gratitude for this tremendous gift and the more time they gave us with Charlie.”
Those life-saving organs come from procurement organizations that serve as a bridge between hospitals, patients and families of donors.
Lifesource is the organization that fills that role in the Dakotas and Minnesota.
Sarah Sonn, director of communications for Lifesource, said there’s always a critical need for organs in the area.
“Right now, across the three states there are about 3,000 people waiting for a life-saving transplant," Sonn said. "Most of those are kidneys, kidneys are definitely the highest-demand organ.”
Sonn said there are two types of organ donations. Living donations come when a living person elects to donate an organ to a person in need, often a friend or family member.
Another source of organ donation comes from someone who has died.
“So, checking that box on your driver's license and offering to share your organs when you pass away at the end of your life," Sonn said. "There are two different pathways to reducing that waiting list.”
Despite the ease of the registration process and the need for organs, Sonn said there are myths about organ donation holding people back – like the age of a donor.
“We hear a lot the phrase ‘nobody is going to want my organs,’ but that is absolutely false," Sonn said. "The oldest organ donor was 95 years old, and really, we encourage everyone to register and check that box, and let the medical professionals who are attending to you when you pass away decide what can be donated, you’d be surprised.”
Because of the constant demand for organs, when hospital patients are organ donors, the care team works closely with a transplant team. Stephanie Battell is the director of nursing at Monument Health.
“Lifesource will send a whole team out and their physicians and nurses will monitor the patient remotely until they get here and then from there, they will be the ones that care for that patient,” Battell said.
When a donation is coordinated with a recipient the organs are transported for surgery. Dr. Thavam Thambi-Pillai is a transplant surgeon with Sanford Health in Sioux Falls.
“I think for me it is quite a humbling experience, because its life-changing or life-transforming for the recipient," Thambi-Pillai said. "A healthy donor can potentially save eight lives. One heart, two lungs, one liver, two kidneys, a pancreas and a small bowel.”
Thambi-Pillai said when organs become available a complex logistical system kicks into gear.
“Its not uncommon for three or four different teams being involved in an organ procurement surgery," Thambi-Pillai said. "So, you can see how many logistics I involve now, suddenly you have teams coming from out of state, or regional, coordinating all that, along with finding the time in the operating room area to do these complex surgeries.”
Thambi-Pillai said 17 people die every day waiting for an organ donation that never comes. He said when more people register as organ donors, they can save more lives.
For the families of organ donors, the power of a life-saving gift can ease the heartache of loss. Josh Weiland’s mother Susie died suddenly of a stroke at Sanford Health in 2019.
Susie was a registered organ donor. Her son Josh said all her organs except for her heart were deemed healthy enough to donate, potentially saving seven lives.
“I vividly remember walking up that morning with my wife and thinking that there were families the night before that received the call of a lifetime - that they had a match - and even though our family was going through grief, their family had hope," Weiland said. "To think today there are still people alive because of my mom’s donations, that’s very impactful on my life.”
You can register to become an organ donor when renewing your license at the DMV. Or you can begin the registration process online at dps.sd.gov.