Guest guest Posted January 31, 2007 Report Share Posted January 31, 2007 Dear , I am one of UPMC's greatest supporters. I was listed at Chapel Hill, NC and Pittsburgh but there was no contest once I went to visit UPMC. I live in Asheville NC so it is a long way, a 7 hour drive, when I go to Pittsburgh. A long distance but I don't mind the drive at all. It was definitely worth it. Once you are there and a patient of UPMC you are eligible to stay in one of their 3 Family Houses. The costs are low and they are very comfortable and nice. We stay there every time I have to go to Pittsburgh. I had my transplant on October 17th 2006. My son, Simon, was my live donor. Everything went real well. The hospital staff were great. By going to UPMC you are actually going to The Starzl Transplant Institute. Dr. Starzl was one of the first to transplant kidneys and livers. He has basically trained most of the doctors in the US in other centers. He is also doing ongoing research into Tolerance and Microchimerism. Their goal is to wean people off Prograf as much as they can. Some tx folks have been totally weaned off already. Dr. Amadeos Marcos is the head of the transplant program at UPMC and my doc. He is an undisputed expert at Live Donor Transplant. And this is one of the reasons we choose this program. So you will be in excellent hands should you choose to go there. I listed with them 3 years ago when it became apparent that Chapel Hill was not going to be able to accommodate me until I was in the high 20's because of my type O blood. I was not in bad shape at the first evaluation but I was also told it is better to get listed when your brain still works. That was good advice because if I had had to do it this last year it would have been rough. Please write online or offline to ask any more questions you need to ask. I will be glad to answer them. Ali Save Life - Be An Organ and Tissue DonorAli Lingerfelt-Tait180 Blackberry Inn Rd.Weaverville, N.C. 28787www.caringbridge.compassword - alilingerfelttaitalso check out :www.//health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Livertx-PSC/It's a new sister site from the PSC Support Group Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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