Alabama man gives kidney to stranger

Murrells Inlet resident met donor on Web site where patients post their profiles

About two years ago, Thomas Burns, a 50-year-old father of five from Mobile, Ala., decided to give away his kidney. He was not aiming to help a family member or a lifelong friend. He wanted to save a stranger.

Melissa Haneline
The Post and Courier

Thomas Burns (in bed) waits with his wife, Carla, and Angie Illhardt (daughter of the recipient) to be taken to surgery where his left kidney will be removed and donated to Dieter Illhardt (right, center). Illhardt answers questions with his wife, Gisela, by his side prior to being prepped for surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina on Tuesday. Burns, from Alabama, decided he wanted to donate a kidney and found Illhardt, a resident of Murrells Inlet, online through a Web site called MatchingDonors.com.

Burns realized that wish at Medical University of South Carolina on Tuesday, when surgeons removed one of his kidneys and transplanted the organ into Dieter Illhardt, 70, of Murrells Inlet.

The two met on MatchingDonors.com, a Web site where patients post their profiles and potential donors search for a life they want to save.

Illhardt, a retiree with a sharp German accent, worked 40 years for electronic manufacturing giant Siemens, laboring on large rotating equipment and liquid ring vacuum pumps.

He suffers from diabetes and has been on dialysis for 11 months. "It is hell. I cannot describe it," Illhardt said of the blood-cleansing treatments that can last for four hours or longer. Kidney failure affects between 10 percent and 40 percent of people with diabetes.

The kidneys' main function is to clear waste material from the blood. The two organs also regulate salt and potassium and produce hormones that affect blood pressure and red-blood cell production. A healthy person should be able to live with one kidney, which will compensate for the lost organ.

Illhardt's wife could not donate her kidney because of her age, and their daughter has diabetes, ruling her out.

"It means to get a new life," Illhardt said of receiving a kidney. "Being on dialysis, you're not living."

As for what drove Burns to donate part of his body, Illhardt shook his head in amazement.

Burns, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound retired Army sergeant, looks as strong as the trees he cuts for a living.

"The biggest trigger for me is seeing what kids watch on TV," Burns said. "They need to understand everything about life is not just about money. You need to leave a footprint on Earth."

Burns said it was important to him to know who got his kidney. When he met the Illhardts, Burns said, "I was reminded of my mother and dad. I felt something there."

About two out of every five kidney transplants are from live donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a national registry that matches recipients with cadaver organs.

The network lists 675 people in South Carolina waiting for a kidney. The average waiting time in the state is two to three years, although 146 patients have been waiting for five years or longer.

Usually, live donors are friends or family of the recipient. During the past five years, sites such as MatchingDonors.com, which charge recipients a subscription fee, have become more popular.

Kidneys from live donors are desirable because they are tested thoroughly, and they last longer than kidneys from cadavers.

But some are skeptical of Internet matching. Arthur Caplan, Center for Bioethics director at the University of Pennsylvania, compared the pitfalls to Internet dating.

Participants might not be telling the truth about themselves, he said, and relationships could turn manipulative. "Online tends to open the door to an underground market," he said.

Also, if more and more people trade organs via the Internet, the traditional registry system might be eroded, bioethicists warn. The United Network for Organ Sharing ranks potential recipients according to objective medical criteria.

Dr. Kenneth Chavin, a specialist in transplant surgery who removed Burns' kidney, compared live organ donation to frequent blood donors. "People, out of the goodness of their hearts, step forward."

A couple of anonymous live donors have made themselves available through the transplant program at MUSC. One was a father whose son received a kidney from a deceased donor, said Dr. Prabhakar Baliga, head of MUSC's transplant surgery division.

As nurses and doctors prepared Burns for surgery Tuesday, he gave his wife, Carla, a wink. The two clasped hands, and her chest fell in a deep sigh.

Donor and recipient were recovering during the afternoon following a successful surgery.

Reach Jill Coley at 937-5719 or jcoley@postandcourier.com.