Patient Profiles

Faith

Faith is an active participant in the Gift of Life program in Philadelphia, and cofounded a biennial conference held alternately with the Transplant Olympics. Faith's positive experience in receiving a simultaneous kidney-pancreas transplant encouraged her to help other families understand the process of evaluation and transplantation. Faith suffered from insulin-dependent diabetes since she was a teenager and while looking into dialysis, she spoke with a physician who suggested the possibility of transplantation. Faith received her transplant in July 1992 at age 31.

Initially, she did not believe pregnancy was possible. One of her physicians suggested that if she were to have children, it would be best to do so before the age of 30, because she would be more likely to experience kidney failure past this point. Unfortunately, Faith was widowed at 26 when her husband died of leukemia.

Faith knew she still wanted children in the future, and adoption and step-children appeared to be her only options. However, in September 1998 Faith remarried and she and her husband explored the possibility of pregnancy. Faith sought the advice of the NTPR. At this point she had stable graft function and good overall health for 6 years. After trying for a year, Faith became pregnant and she and her husband were thrilled. Although Faith's family had concerns regarding the pregnancy and they were also worried about the potential effects the antirejection medications might have on the baby, all their fears were alleviated when Faith delivered her first daughter, Elizabeth, in November 2000.

Faith's second pregnancy came with less anxiety, primarily because there were no complications associated with the delivery of her first daughter. With the exception of a viral infection during the third trimester, her second pregnancy was uneventful until she awoke with severe abdominal pain. Her husband brought her to the hospital where it was discovered that Faith had a ruptured uterus and needed an emergency C-Section. Faith's second daughter Erin was born shortly thereafter. Faith had previously decided not to breastfeed Elizabeth, and although she had further researched the idea before Erin's birth, Faith was unsure of the effects of the immunosuppressive therapy. Two days after Faith was released from the hospital, she began to experience back pain, possibly, she thought, from a strained muscle or from the tubal ligation she had after the delivery. Unfortunately, Faith had a pulmonary embolism and was rehospitalized for 2 weeks. Faith's family was extremely worried and feared that her transplanted organs might fail, but they remained stable throughout both pregnancies and Faith's physicians were very optimistic about her condition.

Faith continues to enjoy stable kidney and pancreas function and is very happy raising her 2 little girls.

Reference and Publication Information

The United Network for Organ Sharing is committed to providing accurate and reliable information for transplant patients. To learn more about our content authorship and review process, please read about our Editorial Board.

The content on this page was originally created on August 25, 2005 by the United Network for Organ Sharing and last modified on August 25, 2005. The following sources were used as references:

Armenti, Vincent, et al. "Report from the National Transplantation Pregnancy Registry (NTPR): Outcomes of Pregnancy after Transplantation". 103-113.

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