Organ transplants at a glance Organ donation statistics: One person can save at least eight lives by becoming an organ donor.   There are 88,700 people on the transplant list in need of organs nationally.   With organ and tissue donation, one person can help 50 people.   Another person is added to the list every 14 minutes.   One person dies every 90 minutes while waiting for a donor organ to become available. (Source: OneLegacy, a Southern California organ procurement organization, Gift of Life Foundation, and the Center for Disease Control) Support group: An organ donor support group meets monthly on the 2nd Mondays at 11 a.m. at the Portola Community Center, 45-480 Portola Ave., in Palm Desert, CA. Details: 760-200-2766. To donate: To become an organ donor, call OneLegacy at (800) 338-6112. Donors can also sign up at Dr. Richard Darling’s organ donation booth Saturday afternoons at the Westfield Shopping Town.

By Laura Waskin
The Desert Sun, Palm Desert, CA
Exactly one month ago, life was looking pretty bleak for 36-year-old Brian Van der Wees. A spa supervisor at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort, Van der Wees was rushed into the emergency room at Eisenhower Medical Center with cirrhosis of the liver.

Although Van der Wees had been suffering from degenerative symptoms of the disease for two years, he suddenly began to tailspin the afternoon of Sept. 4.

"Although he’d been at work that morning, Brian was yellow, bloated, and drifting in and out of consciousness when he was admitted to the emergency room," says Van der Wees’ sister, Brenda Gonzales.

"The doctors gave him just weeks to live. At the same time, we were told the discouraging news that the waiting list for liver transplants could take several months to several years -- or longer."

But then a miracle happened.

Three-time liver transplant recipient Dr. Richard Darling, President and CEO of The FAIR Foundation, received an e-mail from the nursing staff at Eisenhower, telling him of Van der Wees’ condition.

Although he’d never met the married father of two, Darling, a dentist who has had three liver transplants, immediately rushed over to pay Van der Wees a bedside visit.

"I knew there was no time to lose," says Darling, who also heads up the 80-member Coachella Valley organ transplant support group. "And Brian was young, athletic … I knew he would make a good candidate for a transplant. I also knew he and his family needed support."

While Darling communicated with his own transplant physician, Chief of Hepatology and Medical Director of Liver Transplant, Dr. Donald Hillebrand at Loma Linda University Medical Center, Gonzales took care of the insurance company side of things.

Within a week, the red tape was gone and Van der Wees had been moved to Loma Linda’s transplant institute. Twenty-four hours later, he was on the transplant list.

Then the second miracle occurred: a donor’s liver became available within four days. Van der Wees’s surgery was scheduled for Sept. 15.

"Normally, liver transplant surgery lasts between six and 16 hours," says Gonzales. "But Brian’s took under five hours. It was a perfect match."

As part of normal post-operative procedure, Van der Wees is spending the next month at an apartment complex near the hospital in Loma Linda. Although he is unsure of when he’ll return to work, he says the thoughts and actions of his co-workers are "my life-support system."

His co-workers at the Marriott donated over 400 hours of their vacation time to his family. His wife Tracy also works there as a massage therapist.

"It’s been so moving for me to see such unity and this example of unmatched kindness and generosity," says Van der Wees. "Like all the visitors, phone calls, flowers and prayers, it has sustained me from day to day."

He has even higher praise for Darling.

"But none of this would be happening if it wasn’t for Dr. Darling, whose knowledge and experience got the ball rolling. For my family, he’s our guardian angel and has kept my focus positive," says Van der Wees.

Says Darling of his work with other transplant patients: "We transplant recipients can serve as icons and give others hope. People can look at us and say, ‘if you made it, we can make it, too.’

"I believe God has kept me here for a reason -- to help others who are in the same situation."

Van der Wees’s father, Anton, agrees that Darling has played an instrumental role in his son’s survival. Both he and his wife, Reina, have moved from their home at Del Webb’s Sun City to care for their son in Loma Linda.

"He’s been our guiding light because he’s so knowledgeable," says Anton Van der Wees. "And we’re so grateful and appreciative to the doctors and staff at Loma Linda Hospital. Our family has always been very close, and we’re looking forward to Brian’s new life, and new future."

Brian Van der Wees wants to share his encouraging story with the organ donor support group someday. And although he knows the next six months are critical to do everything "just right," he feels like a bundle of energy.

"I’m like a 13-year-old kid again," he says. "I feel like I just want to get out and do so many things again. I have a new opportunity at life."