Maurissa Haisten Opalecky had a kidney and pancreas transplant in 2004 at Memorial
Herman Hospital. She is a wife to Dave, and Mom to daughters Ariel (22) and Madeleine (10).
She travels 270 miles one way from Hurst, Texas to Houston for follow up lab and clinic appointments.
Deborah Lynn Frasier (left) underwent a liver and kidney transplant at The Methodist Hospital
on May 16, 2010. She was in the hospital on and off for a year prior to the transplant, sometimes
for as long as three weeks at a time. Her mother, Louise Frasier (right), spent 85 days sleeping
in hospital waiting rooms, until a space in a hospitality apartment finally became available.
During a recent re-hospitalization, Deborah was separated from her family, because her mother again had no place to stay, and was no longer physically able to withstand the stress of sleepless nights staying at the hospital. The Frasiers live in Refugio, which is 160 miles from Houston.
Brenda Lewis is from out in the country near Hemphill Texas. She needed a kidney transplant.
A friend, of whom she has many, was tested and proved to be a match as a living donor. Brenda and her friend Peter had transplant surgery on September 22, 2010. Brenda was discharged
from the hospital on September 29th. While Peter was able to go back home immediately, for
the next six weeks Brenda will go in for lab work twice a week and to the transplant clinic weekly
for monitoring. Because she lives a long distance from Houston, she is staying at a hotel near
the hospital. Hemphill is 180 miles from Houston.
