Communities Urged to Give Gift of Life

Kidney transplant recipient, sibling donor and Mayor Pawlowski encourage organ and tissue donations during event at Lehigh Valley Hospital

Giving the Gift of Life

Transplant recipient Fred Jerant (seated front left) of Allentown joined his sister and kidney donor, Joan Jerant (seated center) as well as members of the Lehigh Valley Hospital transplant team and representatives of the Gift of Life Donor Program on April 4 to urge organ and tissue donation as part of National Donate Life Month. Jerant received a kidney from his sister five years ago that helped him to avoid dialysis for the rest of his life. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski (seated right) proclaimed April Donate Life Month in the City of Allentown at the event.

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (April 4, 2008) - Fred Jerant of Allentown is living a normal life. So is his sister, Joan Jerant, also of Allentown. Each has just one kidney, but that does not hamper their ability to earn a living and to do what they enjoy - Fred as a freelance writer, and Joan as a nurse at Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest (LVH).

The Jerant's appeared today at LVH to encourage organ and tissue donation as part of the April observance of National Donate Life Month. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and John Green of the Gift of Life Donor Program, the nonprofit organ procurement organization serving the Lehigh Valley region, also spoke of the need for life-saving donations.

"You only need one kidney to live," Fred Jerant said. "Both my sister and I are back to normal."

The 54-year-old Jerant received his donor kidney from his sister five years ago in March. At the time he faced the prospect of dialysis for life because of kidney failure due to diabetes, which was diagnosed when he was just 15 years old. Now, Jerant not only continues to write, but he also has become active in the Lehigh Valley Coalition for Organ Donation.

Joan Jerant didn't hesitate in fulfilling her brother's need for a kidney. She had served as a nurse in the renal unit at LVH and understood the process and what his life would have been like without the transplant.

"On dialysis his life would have been controlled by a machine," she said. "It makes me feel good that part of me is taking care of him."

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski issued a proclamation to note the importance of everyone getting involved. "Thousands of Pennsylvanians are on organ donor waiting lists. Unfortunately, many will die awaiting a transplant. Organ donation is a very deep, very personal decision. I am asking the residents of Allentown to seriously consider organ donation."

John Green of the Gift of Life Donor Program said 5,500 people are awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant in Pennsylvania, and nationwide more than 100,000 are on a waiting list.

"Each day 18 people die waiting for their opportunity," Green said. "This makes it imperative to get the word out and encourage people to make a decision about donation."

Lehigh Valley Hospital's Transplant Center performed the first kidney transplant in the Lehigh Valley in July 1991. Since then, more than 500 kidneys have been transplanted by the Center, and more than 15 kidney/pancreas and pancreas alone transplants have been performed. The pancreas transplant program began in 2002. Transplant patients live in the Lehigh Valley and as far away as Scranton, Doylestown and Warren County, N.J. There currently are 229 people on the organ transplant waiting list at LVH, 210 for kidneys, 9 for pancreases, and 10 listed for simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplants.

Based in Allentown and Bethlehem, Pa., Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network is a regional resource center for trauma, burn, kidney transplant, perinatal/neonatal, cardiac, cancer care and neurology and complex neurosurgery. The network comprises Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest & I-78, Lehigh Valley Hospital - 17th & Chew and Lehigh Valley Hospital - Muhlenberg, as well as Lehigh Valley Health Services including home health, hospice, rehabilitation, pharmacy and health management and the 370-member Lehigh Valley Physician Group of primary care and specialist physicians. LVHHN hospitals are designated national Magnet hospitals for excellence in nursing. LVH is one of Pennsylvania’s largest teaching hospitals and is a major teaching campus of Penn State's College of Medicine.

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