An Organ Donation Miracle

Aug. 8 -- Janet White Larson was on a flight to Louisiana to donate a kidney to her ailing younger sister.

But what her sister Debbie, 41, actually needed desperately was a liver transplant. In the meantime, though, doctors believed a kidney transplant might buy Debbie some time to live, as the massive doses of antibiotics she was taking were destroying her kidneys.

Debbie had been waiting for a liver for several months, and "would probably have to wait anywhere from six to 18 months longer," according to Dr. Philip Boudreaux, her surgeon and liver specialist. "So it was unlikely that we would be finding a liver for her because I didn't think she would be alive six to 18 months longer."

Larson, 47, pulled out some medical documents and began to read up on the process she would go through in giving her sister a kidney. "I wanted to be able to ask educated questions of the doctors," she says.

A Life-Saving Coincidence

Sitting next to Larson on Northwest Airlines flight 1815 was 43-year-old Allen Van Meter, a Jacksonville businessman who was en route to Kentucky to comfort relatives, as they were soon to take his nephew, Michael Gibson, off life support. Gibson, 25, had accidentally shot himself in the head with what he thought was an unloaded gun.

Van Meter had planned to keep to himself on the plane ride, preparing for the difficult task of helping his family take Gibson off life support. But when Van Meter saw a woman studying medical drawings, he couldn't help but to ask if she was a doctor. Larson explained she was on her way to donate a kidney to her sister — but that what her sister really needed was a liver.

"I felt the presence of God come over me," recalls Van Meter. "I tapped her on the shoulder and I said, "Well, how about Deborah getting Michael's liver?'" Just the night before, Gibson's family had made the decision to donate his organs.

At first Larson was skeptical. She knew that accepting an organ wasn't so simple, as her sister had already rejected a liver from a transplant she'd had three years ago. Once a patient reached the top of a state-regulated waiting list, blood types had to match, tissue needed to be compatible and organ size was a factor.