Donor in first organ transplant dies in Maine

[meegbear]

Source: AP / Daily Evening Item

Ronald Lee Herrick, who donated a kidney to his dying twin brother in 1954 in what's recognized as the world's first successful organ transplant, has died in Maine. He was 79.

Herrick's wife, Cynthia, said he died Monday at the Augusta Rehabilitation Center. She said his health deteriorated after undergoing heart surgery in October.

Herrick made history in 1954 when he donated a kidney to his twin brother, Richard, at what is now the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Because they were identical twins, there was no problem with rejection. The United Network for Organ Sharing says it was the first successful transplant.

The operation on Dec. 23, 1954, kept Herrick's brother alive for eight years. Lead surgeon Dr. Joseph Murray went on to win a Nobel Prize.



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[savalez]

1. RIP Ronald Lee Herrick.

You were a brave man.

[EOTE]

2. I think we can learn an important lesson from this.

Donating organs kills.

[eagertolearn]

3. He lived 56 years after donating. Plus got 8 more years with his brother:)

[EOTE]

5. I was being facetious.

I know that organ donation is a good thing. I meant that remark in kind of the same vein as when George Burns died at the ripe age of 100 and Norm McDonald took to saying "Let this be a reminder kids, SMOKING KILLS!". Although there's plenty of evidence to say that smoking does kill, while organ donation does not.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. That's like a quip from one of William Least Heat-Moon's books ...

"Yep, the liquor finally killed him."

"How old was he?"

"Eighty-seven."




(TBOMR anyway)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

6. I'm forwarding this warning to everyone I know.

!1!!!1!111

I predict the recipient will also die, if he hasn't already.

[Brother Buzz]

7. The brother died forty-eight years ago