Transplant Patient Stories

Dave Mauck

On December 6, 2008, Dave Mauck received the best Christmas gift possible: the gift of life, in the form of a new kidney.
Read more... 

Amanda Hagan

UK Transplant Center recently received an unique thank-you note from Amanda Hagan, transplant patient.

She wrote, "Now I'm a new person, thanks to all of you! It is such a wonderful feeling to be healthy again! . . . My children had to thank you in their own way."  Read more . . . 

Linda Jozefowicz

"It would be difficult to establish a date or event for the deterioration of my respiratory system; however, I have no doubt in my mind that the primary cause of the deterioration was smoking. There is some history in my family of emphysema and I was exposed to a dusty environment when I was a technician in feed and flourmill, but still, the cigarettes are the main culprits. I was not a heavy smoker; one pack a day was my max. Still, it was enough to ruin my health."  Read more . . . 

Michael McMillian

In 2000, McMillian was diagnosed with black lung, a disease caused by the inhalation of coal dust. The effects of the disease were devastating.

"I couldn't do anything," said McMillian. "I was on oxygen. I could only walk about 20 feet."  Read more . . . 

Jerry Milam

Nearly every day since the letter arrived in March, Jerry Milam's wife has shared its three short paragraphs with her friends at church and family members.

The letter was written by the sister of the man whose heart beats in Jerry's chest. Milam, 49, received the heart in a five-hour transplant operation on Thanksgiving Day 2002. Read more . . . 

Roberta Prater

Roberta Prater's brother overcame his fear of needles when he learned his sister's health was declining and her only hope was a kidney transplant.

"I was shocked that Arnold would do this," said Roberta Prater of her brother, Arnold Howell. "He is scared to death of needles. Even when his children went to the health department for shots, he stayed in the car. This amazed me." Read more . . . 

Nancy Watts

Nancy Watts was told she had only 10 days to live if she chose not to undergo kidney dialysis. Watts asked her family to research dialysis before she agreed. She wasn't sure she wanted to live that way. Read more . . .