The Ballad of Billy The Kidney

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History > Jerry Richardson

Today's instalment in this series introduces you to Jerry Richardson, owner and founder of the Carolina Panthers in the [US] National Football League.

I usually try to alternate these columns between a figure likely to be known to American audiences and a figure more likely to be known to Australian audiences.

This has been a wee bit out of sequence lately, including some figures that fit into neither category (such as my lovely wife).  So here we are back on track.

Usually this post is an abstract of the articles mentioned in this post.  But most of these articles are a wee bit bogged down in American football terms that are completely lost on me;  a humbling experience for an adult educator, and a salutary reminder of what a lot of my students experience when they arrive at TAFE College.

But Mr Richardson is mentioned here because of his recent heart transplant.

Articles I located on this gentleman include:

• Official biography on the Carolina Panthers website (and no mention of his transplant!)
• Wikipedia article
• Gary Myers, Classy Jerry Richardson in fight for his life, New York Daily News, 21st Decembner 2008 (written just before his transplant)
• Richardson recovering from transplant, ESPN, 2nd February 2009
• Addie Rising, Panthers Owner's Heart Transplant Surgery Successful, Addie's Charlotte Blog, About.com, 4th February 2009

The picture is from Addies' Charlotte Blog on About.com

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-transplant History > Stan Whippy Ritova

Stan Whippy Ritova, titled Ratu Viliame Ritova (1935-2009) was a noted  journalist in Australia and in his home nation of Fiji.

He stood for the welfare and rights of kidney patients in Fiji.

Paradoxically, the shortage of facilities in his home country was to eventually force him to move to Australia.  From this base he continued his journalistic career up to the time of his death.

His work eventually led to the eventual establishment of the first kidney dialysis centre in Fiji in 2008. (2008!)

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Obituaries in:

• Fiji Times Online
• Sydney Morning Herald

Anshoo Mala Chandra, New Dialysis Centre to Save Lives, Fiji Government Online Portal, 27th May 2008

Image credit: the image of Stan Whippy Ritova with the non-elected and self-appointed Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, is from the Fiji Government Online Portal of 27th May 2008

Location of the Fijian Islands via Google Maps

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History > Janine Murphy

This month's nomination for Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History goes to a lady who demonstrated that you can still rise to great works in your chosen field - sometimes even with chronic illness.

Janine Murphy was the late Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Australian Mint.  It appears from her obituary notices that she had had a long-term illness, no doubt leading to her liver transplant.

People sometimes assume that you can't be a contributing member of society - in a salaried or non-salaried way - if you have a chronic illness.  But there are plenty of people who demonstrate the opposite.

Obituary notice in

• The website of the Royal Australian Mint

• The Brisbane Times

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• Image credit: from the prospectus of the XXVI Mint Directors' Conference, Canberra 2010

Great Figures in Transplant / Non-Transplant History > Pauline Daley

Today it is appropriate to honour a truly great figure in transplant history - my wife Pauline.

An important way of getting through a major obstacle in life is to get your loved ones onside - partner, family, friends, workmates.  Pauline is an outstanding example of this, going way beyond the call of duty.

(And she had no prior warning of this trribute, by the way.)

Recently I completed my formal re-training by graduating from the University of Wollongong with a TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) teaching qualification.

This is the formal end of a pathway I started on in 2003 when I first enrolled in the University's M.Ed. program in adult education & training.

But its a pathway that I would have found impossible to reach without the support and love of my wife Pauline.

And indeed, this support goes back further to the period 1998 to 2002, with the days of home haemo-dialysis.

I was fortunate to be able to do this at home.  But again, this would have been plainly impossible without Pauline's support.

In those years, Pauline deliberately slowed her career right down simply so she could be a support.

Most dialysis nights, I got home from work to find that she had mostly or entirely completed the set-up.  And then she would strip the machine if I had to race to work next morning.

And this from a lady who was previously barely able to tolerate the sight of a paper cut.

Then there were the interminable hours sitting about clinics when we were on holidays.

And the big day when the transplant call came out of the blue.  A simple country drive for a picnic suddenly became a dash to Sydney and months of disruption.

All through this, Pauline came up smiling.

And she could have avoided all this whilst we were engaged back in the early 1990s. 

During this time, the magnitude of my kidney problems became apparent.  I did what I believed was the honourable thing and indicated to Pauline that I would entirely understand if she wanted to withdraw from our engagement.

Her response?  To tell me that I was talking nonsense, and that we need to decide on invitations by the end of the week.

From the bottom of my heart - thank you, Pauline.  I love you very deeply, and your role as a Great Figure in Transplant / Non-Transplant History is highly deserved. 

• Our picture is from the website of the University of Wollongong.
• The following YouTube video of a rendition of Stand By Me is posted by Playing For Change.
  

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Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history: Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs is a recipient of a liver transplant.  He is also the co-founder and CEO of the computer giant Apple Inc.

He is quite famour for building Apple up from a garage company to the multi-national computer force that it is today.

Rather than re-tell the story here, I would just like to express the hope that Mr Jobs will be a good example of how a transplant patient can continue to be a good and useful member of society.

Items on Steve Jobs on the WWW include:

• "Steve Jobs had liver transplant: report", Sydney Morning Herald, 20th June 2009.  (I am not linking back to the original Wall Street Journal Report because you have to subscribe to WSJ.com to read the article.)

• Wikipedia article

• Peter Elkind, The trouble with Steve Jobs, Fortune, 5th March 2008

• Steve Jobs oral history - Smithsonian Institution, 20th April 1995 (PDF file)"

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This YouTube video showcases Steve Jobs's favourite cliches.  It was uploaded by rmoisescot .

Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history: Natalie Cole

This blog wishes to salute the noted American singer Natalie Cole;  it has just been announced that she has undergone a kidney transplant in Los Angeles.

Goodonya, Natalie!

By way of reprise, here is a (somewhat visually wobbly) version of Unforgettable in which she does a duet with her late dad Nat "King" Cole.  This was uploaded by swinginkatz.

You might also wish to view the "behind the scenes" video from her official website.

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• Announcement on her official website.
• Image credit:  MyBCT.now.com
  

UPDATE - 24th MAY 2009:  In doing follow-up research on this post I have just stumbled across the announcement of the death of Natalie Cole's sister Carol.  Always a sad time, a death in the family is particularly sad when one's energy is directed at getting over a transplant.  On behalf of our readers, this blog conveys our condolences to the Cole family.

Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history: Paul Hudson

You know, I always assumed that certain jobs and careers were off limits to transplantees - but this story makes me think again.

A gentleman named Paul Hudson has just joined the New South Wales Police Force - six years after a kidney transplant.

There you go!  I erroneously thought that being a police officer and a transplantee were mutually exclusive.  And not through pessimistic reasons - just being realistic (the new kidney usually sits in a relatively exposed place in the body, unlike native kidneys).

Its always useful to be shown another way of thinking.

• Media release from the New South Wales Police Force.

• The picture of Probationary Constable Paul Hudson is from the Sydney Morning Herald of 8th May 2009

Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history: Sam Chisholm

Sam Chisholm is a recipient of a lung transplant.  He is also Chair of the Advisory Council to the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority. 

Mr Chisholm is a former Chief Executive Officer of the 9 television network in Australia - serving 2 terms, including a number of years after his transplant.   He is also a former CEO of the British television network BSkyB.

Chisholm started in television as a detour from his previous career of floor polish salesman, according to Graeme Blundell in his book King:  The life and comedy of Graham Kennedy.

By this account, he demonstrated the power of his product to the then-new (1960s) king of variety television, Graham Kennedy, by personally coming round to his Melbourne home and polishing his kitchen floor.

Chisholm had 2 stints as CEO of 9.  His 2nd stint was in a bid to steady the ship as the network's profitability declined, according to Gerald Stone in his book Who killed Channel 9? The Death of Kerry Packer's Mighty TV Dream Machine.

In that book, Stone reports impressions of the staff at Channel 9 Sydney as being suspicious of a man who had had such major surgery:

Quote from Stone book

Such misinformed perceptions can often be made against people who have had organ transplants.  Whilst I wrote in my post on Jonah Lomu that a person who has had a transplant needs to make realistic and informed choices about what they can and cannot do, this does not excuse others from making uninformed pre-judgements.

Whatever one might think of Sam Chisholm, he successfully ran a (formerly) highly profitable commercial television network - a high pressure job, to be sure.

Links to material on Sam Chisholm include:

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Prime Minister of Australia: opening remarks to Australian Organ Donor Awareness Week, 24th February 2009

In this speech, the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Kevin Rudd MP announces that Sam Chisholm will become Chair of the Advisory Council to the newly-created Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority.

Biographical newspaper cuttings file on Sam Chisholm

A catalogue record of a file in the National Library of Australia

Consolidated Media Holdings:  Sam Chisholm steps down

This page is a link to a PDF file of an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange.

Michael Evans, Sam Chisholm gets Nine's missing balls, Sydney Morning Herald, 13th February 2006

David Dale, Sam Chisholm responds:  what, me worry?  Sun Herald, [17?] November 2005

An interesting blog entry (from 2005, a long time ago in digital history) in which the CEOs of Australian television networks incorrectly forecast that the internet will have no effect on TV viewing habits

Damien Murphy, Play it again, Sam.  The Age [Melbourne], 14th May 2005

An analysis of Chisholm's return to 9 in 2005.

Annie Lawson, Powerplays of a media deal-maker.  The Age, 18th April 2004

A commentary of Chisholm's managerial style and activities, written one year after his transplant.

Gift of life

Transcript of a 2003 story Chisholm's lung transplant on 60 Minutes

ZoomInfo profile

An automated profile drawn from existing web content.  Such automated profiles are not checked by the human eye and are thus subject to a high degree or error.

Pipl listing

Another automated listing.  See the warning about automated profiles in the previous link,

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• Books discussed in this post are linked to Amazon.com via the thumbnails on the right-hand column of this page.
  
• The caricature of Sam Chisholm (on the right) with another former 9 Network CEO, Eddie McGuire, was drawn by John Shakespeare and published in the Sydney Morning Herald of 13th February 2006

Great figures in transplant / non-transplant history: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a famous composer and performer of Salzburg (later within Austria).

He is included in this series because kidney failure is one of the many rumoured causes of his death.  I don't know which story is correct, but hey!  variety is the spice of life when it comes to this series.

Selected links on the life, times and works of W A Mozart include the following.

lastFM: music of W A Mozart
Includes a range of .WAV files of Mozart's music (although they sound a wee bit Mr Whippy -ish)

The Mozart Forum
The stated aim of the Mozart Forum is "... to improve the intelligent discussion and discourse of Mozart and his world as found on the Internet."

OperaGlass: Mozart
A Stanford University website with a comprehensive list of his compositions and associated links.

W A Mozart
An anonymous and dormant site with a nonetheless-useful list of Mozart-related material on the WWW.

Requiem Mass in D minor:  Wikipedia article

The Mozart Project
 Not regularly updated, but containing useful links.

Wolfgand Amadeus Mozart:  Wikipedia article

Hatzinger M, Häcker A, Langbein S, Bross S, Honeck P, Alken P.:  Urologe A. 2007 Feb;46(2):172.
[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A urological pathography] [Article in German]

Article abstract cited in PubMed

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• This YouTube video of an excerpt from the film Amadeus [1984] was uploaded by crazyman4985.  It requires a high-speed internet connection to view. Some servers automatically block YouTube.
  • The caricature of Mozart is from a blog on the website of LastFM.
    

Great figures in Transplant / Non-transplant history: Jonah Lomu

Jonah Lomu (born 1975) is a New Zealander who is a former member of the New Zealand national rugby team (the "All Blacks"). 

At his peak, he was afearsome sight.  One sport writer wrote that being the target of a Jonah Lomu charge on the rugby field was like having your home refrigerator suddenly grow legs and run straight at you.  Another writer, linked below, points out that his thigh circumference is the same as the size of an average man's waist.

Jonah Lomu retired from international rugby following diagnosis of nephrotic syndrome, eventually requiring a kidney transplant.

Unfortunately he harboured plans to make a comeback to international rugby after his transplant - a dangerous thing, to be sure.  Transplanted kidneys, unlike native kidneys (heavily protected thanks to Mother Nature),  sit in a rather unprotected area of the body - and the average international rugby match would be a ticket to danger for a transplanted kidney.

You have to make realistic choices after your ransplant.  Your old career might not be appropriate any more, and you might have to re-launch and re-train for a new career.

In my case, I retrained

• from a job with medium levels of exposure to children (a problem for my compromised immune system) and with inflexible 9-to-5 hours
• to a job with contract hours (so I could time my days to allow for exercise and the quarterly check-ups) and with contact exclusively with adults (to reduce the risk to my immune system)

This took no small effort and expense on the part of my wife and I - but it was worth it. 

Depending on where you live and on your financial circumstances, you might be eligible for financial assistance towards this re-training.  You should have a chat to

• Your transplant hospital's social worker
• Your local and/or distance-delivery adult education provider (such as TAFE Colleges [Australia], city colleges [USA] or universities).

I also gave up cricket umpiring - again due to the risk to my immune system, this time from long blasts of Australian summer sunlight during the course of an average cricket game.

I have some more thoughts about career change at this post.

Anyway, back to Jonah Lomu!  Here is a selection of material on the WWW concerning this gentleman.

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• This YouTube video by timmyc1 packages highlights of Lomu's playing style.  The music is in my humble opinion a bit corny but the vision is great and the haka is of course always stirring.
• Wikipedia article on Jonah Lomu
• Jonah Lomu's personal website
• Simon Hughes, Jonah Lomu:  I'm back on full power again.  Telegraph.co.uk, 5th September 2007
• Jonathan Marshall & Kristian South, Jonah walked off with my wife, S14 rookie claims.  Stuff.co.nz, 17th February 2008.  (I include this to make the point that after most transplants, patients can look forward to a full and normal sex life - although I am not commenting on the ethics of the alleged conduct in this article.)

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Jonah Lomu Rampaging - ...

• This MetaCafe video by quincey78 also features Jonah Lomu's work.

• Information on nephrotic syndrome published by:

• Better Health Victoria
• Disability Victoria
• MedlinePlus
• Wikipedia

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The image of Jonah Lomu at the top of this post is from NZEdge.com