Liver transplant follows Texas family’s pleas to public

Published 9:00 pm Friday, August 13, 2004

HOUSTON – A man’s efforts to get a healthy liver with public pleas, including billboards and a Web site, succeeded as he underwent transplant surgery with a donated organ.

Officials at The Methodist Hospital said Todd Krampitz, 32, was recovering Friday in the intensive care unit, normal for all transplant patients, after successful surgery overnight.

Krampitz, a newlywed, was diagnosed in May with liver cancer, and by July his doctors said only a transplant would save his life.

His family mounted a media campaign, including two billboards along a Houston freeway and a Web site that detailed his plight and raised awareness about organ donations. Krampitz and his wife, Julie, also did national media interviews.

In a statement, Julie Krampitz said “a generous family” donated the organ and that it was given specifically for her husband.

“Organ donation truly is the gift of life,” Julie Krampitz said. “We are excited that our efforts to find a donor for Todd have served to increase public awareness of the tremendous need for organ donation nationwide.”

The donor was from out of state, said Catherine Graham, a spokeswoman for the organization that coordinated efforts to bring the liver to Houston after it became available Thursday morning.

“The donor is not seeking publicity. The family is in mourning at this time,” she said.

Officials with the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates the nation’s transplant system, believe public pleas for directed donations run the risk of bypassing the established allocation system and can create an uneven playing field for all individuals on the national waiting list for organs.