Kate: a better person

Kate Lanto and nephrologist Peter Yorgin, M.D.

SPRING 2002 - Kate Lanto has had her mother's kidney inside her for just over a year. It is working great -- and the 11-yearold appreciates the gift.

After the surgery, Kate began volunteering for the California Transplant Donor Network as a speaker because, she says, "I'm a ham."

And she is. During a visit to the Packard clinic, Kate puts on an act for the doctors, too. She plays with the window shades, hides in the exam room cupboard, and peers over a table's edge at her doctor.

But her antics belie a maturity beyond her years. As her mom, Kim Lanto, puts it, "She knows more than most grownups do about how important health is and about managing fear and pain."

In the summer of 1999, the Lantos first learned that their then 9-year-old daughter had only 15 to 20 percent kidney function and would need a transplant. "With kidney disease, you can't tell a kid's sick," says Kim, who took the news hard. "She was so little," she says. "It knocked me down."

But Kate's parents felt better after meeting with doctors at Packard. "They all instilled confidence," Kim remembers. "And we felt better when we learned that one of us could probably be a donor."

Kate's kidneys had been damaged by the reflux of urine back into them from the bladder, aggravated by frequent urinary tract infections. The reflux needed to be repaired before the transplant so that the problem would not harm the new kidney.

In December 1999, Kate's reflux was fixed and one year later, Oscar Salvatierra replaced one of her kidneys with one of her mom's.

Kim is thankful they came to Packard for Kate's transplant. "The doctors are totally competent," she says.

When Kate climbs in her mom's lap to give her a big smooch, it is clear the transplant created an even closer bond between the two of them. "We're proud of our scars," boasts Kim. "We're all better people for it."