MGH kidney transplant experiment

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Fri 5 September 2008

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	Breaking News [ 4 min ago ] Low-cost Florida bound flights coming soon to Worcester (Latoyia Edwards, NECN) - People flying to Florida will soon have a new option. Starting this fall, Direct......read more

HEALTH: MGH kidney transplant experiment

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Health

32 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago

MGH kidney transplant experiment

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(NECN) - 28-year-old Jen Searl had her first kidney transplant when she was 13. For her body to accept her father's kidney, Searl had to take a regimen of drugs to suppress her immune system. The drugs are needed in the most conventional organ transplants and can cause cancer as well as other side effects.

Searl developed painful, disfiguring growths on the bottom of her foot. The Peabody, Mass. woman was self-conscious and could barely walk for years. Her body eventually rejected her dad's kidney. Her mother could give her another kidney, but Searl didn't want to take anymore immuno-suppressant drugs. Instead, she participated in an experiment at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. David Sachs was heading a trial to transplant kidneys and then wean patients off rejection drugs. It had only been done in siblings with nearly identical genetic make up.

Jen Searl has now been living drug free with her new kidney for five years. She has never before had a healthy body so she takes it for test runs, literally. Not long ago, she finished her first marathon. NECN's Ally Donnelly has her story.