New Kidney working fine

Todd Hauptman received a kidney from Tanya Tait on Wednesday,and it immediately began working for the 23-year-old Langley man, who spoke to The Times on Thursday from the hospital.

The kidney that Tanya Tait donated to Todd Hauptman began working as soon as it was transplanted, a delighted Hauptman told The Times on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the surgery.

Tait, 40, and Hauptman, 23, were placed in adjacent rooms at Vancouver General Hospital after the operations on Wednesday.

Tait’s four-hour surgery to remove a kidney began at 8 a.m. and the operation to place the organ in Hauptman began at 1 p.m. and ended at 5 p.m.

Unable to sleep because of the pain, Tait, who is MP Mark Warawa’s constituency communications press secretary, began texting Hauptman, who was in an adjacent room, at 4 a.m. the next morning.

Speaking with The Times from her hospital room early on Thursday afternoon, Tait said she was about to meet Hauptman for the first time since the operation.

“I’m thrilled and happy. I can’t wait to see his face,” she said.
The story of how their nine-year friendship led to the life-saving operation was told in The Times’ March 26 edition.

Hauptman said the surgeon told him the operation was textbook perfect. “The kidney started working as soon as they put it in. It’s chugging along. It’s awesome,” he said.

“Considering I just had the surgery yesterday, I feel pretty good.”

His own kidneys, failing from Alports syndrome, remain in his abdomen.

Tait is expected to be discharged on Good Friday, and Hauptman a few days later.

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~ by dsylvester on April 3, 2010.