“Local father of three seeking a kidney donor.” That’s the ad Avram Yushan is taking out in local newspapers and online as he desperately seeks a replacement for his diseased organs.
The Egg Harbor Township resident, who has three children with his wife, Remy — Denise Yushan, 18, Rachel Yushan, 16, and Jacob Yushan, 14 — has spent the past year trying to find a living donor.
According to the Mayo Clinic, polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is an inherited disorder in which clusters of cysts develop primarily within the kidneys, causing them to enlarge and lose function over time. Cysts are noncancerous round sacs containing fluid. The cysts vary in size, and they can grow very large. Having many cysts or large cysts can damage the kidneys.
PKD can also cause cysts to develop in the liver and elsewhere in the body. The disease can cause serious complications, including high blood pressure and kidney failure.
PKD varies greatly in its severity, and some complications are preventable. Lifestyle changes and treatments may help reduce damage to the kidneys from complications.
Symptoms can include high blood pressure, back pain, blood in urine, a feeling of fullness in the abdomen, increased size of abdomen due to enlarged kidneys, headaches, kidney stones, kidney failure and urinary tract or kidney infections.
According to the National Institutes of Health, PKD is one of the most common genetic disorders, affecting about 500,000 people in the United States.
Yushan, who moved to the United States in 1980 with his brother to join their parents, has advertised on The Press of Atlantic website for a year and in the Ocean City Sentinel for several weeks, as well as papers in New York City where he grew up.
He also is a registered recipient candidate with the American Kidney Association through Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center.
Yushan, who graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City with a bachelor’s degree in administration and criminal justice, said he inherited the disease from his mother, a native of Romania who passed away in 1990.
Yushan said a year ago he collapsed and was taken to a hospital, where he spent a month before starting a three-days-a-week dialysis regimen. He now does home dialysis daily, but the 12-hour shift leaves him “feeling like a zombie.”
Yushan said whoever donates their kidney to him “would be my fourth kid. I would start a new life.”
He said his brother also suffered from PKD but finally got a transplant after waiting eight years.
“After eight years, the phone rang. He couldn’t believe it, is shocked to this day,” Yushan said of his brother.
He is hoping not to have to wait so long.
“It’s like living like a robot. I have to hook up to the machine at night,” he said. “My legs now started hurting, my cholesterol is going up and down. Dialysis destroys the body,” he said.
Yushan said he was told when the medical center finds a match, they will call.
“They said it can happen any day, but when I hear eight years I want to run,” he said. “I am not happy.”
He said his children are too young to be donors, so that leaves him reaching out to strangers.
Becoming a donor
Marie Morgievich, assistant vice president for transplant clinical services at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center’s Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division, explained the process of becoming a donor.
The Renal and Pancreas Division at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center is the eight-largest kidney transplant program in the U.S. and its living donor program is the fourth-largest in the U.S.
Morgievich said the goal is to provide each patient in need with an organ from a living donor. That’s because there is a lower incidence of rejection, lessening side effects because less drugs have to be administered. It also allows for the surgery to be scheduled rather than rushed, making for a better outcome.
“On average, a living kidney transplant lasts twice as long as a deceased donor,” Morgievich said, noting it also allows for a deceased donor organ to go to another in need.
Morgievich said living donors are very unique patients because they are the only type who receives no medical benefit from the procedure.
“It’s purely for the benefit of the other person,” she said.
Those wishing to become a living donor go through an extensive medical workup to ensure they are compatible and healthy enough to live with only one kidney.
“Living kidney donation is very safe. Living donors are screened carefully, undergo extensive education, evaluation testing, evaluation by trained licensed clinical social workers, a registered nurse, nephrologist and surgeons,” Morgievich said.
Cooperman Barnabas has eight transplant nephrologists and four surgeons, all highly trained and specialized.
All medical costs related to donor evaluation and surgery are covered by the recipient’s insurance, Morgievich said, adding that grants are available to pay for lodging, travel expenses and lost wages.
The surgery is performed laparoscopically, which is minimally invasive requiring only a single incision made. Patients stay in the hospital for only two days and are assigned a living donor advocate as an “extra layer of protection.”
Getting started requires a blood test be done only at a specialized lab, but compatibility testing begins with psychological and other evaluation.
“We don’t do the test immediately,” Morgievich said, noting there is extensive education. “They need to first understand what they are getting involved in.”
To contact Yushan call 609-226-8334.
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff