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Pastimes : I NEED To Sell a KIDNEY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Done, gone. who wrote (574)	11/13/2006 11:55:43 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 600

Welcome to Pakistan, the world's kidney bazaar Indebted farmers sell them for about $2,500 November 13, 2006 BY SADAQAT JAN suntimes.com JANDALA, Pakistan -- Nassem Kausar has done it. So, she says, have her sister, six brothers, five sisters-in-law and two nephews. Each has sold a kidney to a trade that has led Pakistan's media to dub the country a ''kidney bazaar.'' ''We do this because of our poverty,'' said Kausar. A kidney nets the donor $2,500, sometimes less than half that amount, while recipients -- some 2,000 a year -- pay $6,000 to $12,000, compared with $70,000 in neighboring China. Critics blame an economic system that enmeshes farmers in chronic debt, forcing them to sell their kidneys, and say the trade should be banned. The government says it is taking action. Illegal in U.S. In the United States, donating kidneys for money is banned. But the International Society of Nephrology has suggested expanding the pool of kidney donors by legalizing payment of about $40,000 to donors. At least 20 transplant clinics exist in Pakistan, and 10 percent of the patients are foreigners, many from the Middle East and ''one or two'' from Europe, said Bakhsh Ali, a senior official at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation. Donors need check-ups The government has drafted legislation to ''regulate'' kidney transplants, monitor surgeries and ''encourage family donors,'' said Health Ministry official Athar Saeed Dil, who has helped draft the proposed law. He declined to say if an outright ban was planned, but Mukhtar Hamid Shah, a prominent surgeon who opened a transplant center in 1979, said the government plans to outlaw donations for money by non-family members and impose seven-year prison sentences on surgeons who break the law. The Sindh Institute's Ali said donors need constant check-ups to keep their blood pressure and sugar under control and protect the remaining kidney. 'I cannot run' But some donors said they received no follow-up care. ''I pant. I cannot run. I cannot pick up heavy things,'' said Allah Yar, a 50-year-old farmer who has suffered poor health for seven years since selling a kidney.

To: Done, gone. who wrote (574)	3/2/2007 8:03:03 PM
From: SIer formerly known as Joe B.	Respond to of 600

Ex-Cowboy donates kidney to ex-teammate By JAIME ARON news.yahoo.com DALLAS - Ron Springs and Everson Walls will always share a bond forged over their years as teammates on the Dallas Cowboys. That's nothing compared to their newest link — the kidney Walls donated to Springs. Springs and Walls were recovering at Medical City Hospital on Thursday, a day after the transplant operation — the first between two former U.S. professional athletes. "That's brotherly love," Springs told The Associated Press in December. "It's something you can't explain, but something that I will always think about every day for the rest of my life." The former football stars and their doctors are scheduled to hold a news conference Friday. The players hope they can inspire others to become organ donors by sharing their story. The only other known transplants involving former pro athletes as donors include Greg Ostertag giving a kidney to his sister in 2002 when he was playing for the Utah Jazz, and basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson donating a kidney to his daughter in 1997. Several pro athletes have received an organ, with basketball players Alonzo Mourning and Sean Elliott returning to play in the NBA following their ordeals. The 50-year-old Springs has suffered from diabetes for 16 years and has been on the national transplant waiting list since 2004. The disease has led to the amputation of his right foot and the big and middle toes on his left foot, and caused his hands to curl into knots. He also was forced into a wheelchair and needed dialysis three times a week. Providing his body accepts Walls' kidney, Springs will no longer need dialysis and can expect his hands to regain their normal form. He also should again be able to walk on his own. "It's like getting a new battery in a car," Springs said in December. "I'll be able to be back to basically almost 100 percent normal." The 47-year-old Walls volunteered to be tested after things fell through with two of Springs' relatives who were perfect matches. "I said, 'Well, look, I know my blood type is the same as his. Why not give it a shot and see what happens?'" Walls said in December. Springs and Walls became fast friends during Walls' first training camp with the Cowboys. They played together only four years (1981-84), but their close relationship continued, enhanced by their wives and children being close with each other, too. The duo had wanted to keep the transplant quiet until it happened, but word leaked in December through Springs' oldest son, Shawn, who plays cornerback — Walls' old position — for the Washington Redskins. Ron Springs joined the Cowboys in 1979 and became a starter alongside Tony Dorsett in '81, the year Walls arrived as an undrafted rookie from Grambling. Springs left in 1985, finishing his career with two seasons in Tampa Bay. Walls led the NFL in interceptions his first two seasons and again in '85, making him the only three-time leader in NFL history. He picked off 57 passes and made the Pro Bowl four times over his 14-year career, which included stints with the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns.