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 Dr. Tom Starzl greets two patients he previously performed transplants on during the opening ceremonies of the National Kidney Foundation 2008 U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh, PA. Starzl, Le Mars native and pioneer in the transplant field, gave a welcoming speech for the games and lit the symbolic flame for the ceremony Saturday, July 12. [Click to enlarge] |
So did the man who, during the opening ceremonies, lit the games' symbolic flame.
Le Mars native Dr. Tom Starzl held that honor, recognized as one of the pioneers of transplantation. In 1967 he performed the first successful human liver transplant at the University of Colorado.
 Dr. Tom Starzl high fives members of Team Pittsburgh during the opening ceremonies of the National Kidney Foundation 2008 U.S. Transplant Games in Pittsburgh, PA. Starzl, Le Mars native and pioneer in the transplant field, gave a welcoming speech for the games and lit the symbolic flame for the ceremony Saturday, July 12. [Click to enlarge] |
The road to there from his youth in Le Mars was at times rocky, challenging, tragic and beautiful. But because he took that road, the U.S. Transplant Games is not an empty field.
His story started in Le Mars.
"Quite early on I used to go to Sacred Heart Hospital and watch Wendell Downing perform operations," Starzl said in a phone interview. "He was a very good surgeon."
From there, Starzl would dive into the world of medicine. In his 80 years, he worked to increase survival for people needing transplants of livers, kidneys, and other organs.
Now, at the University of Pittsburgh, the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute carries not only his name but success stories made possible by the research he did and from those who worked with him.
"Starting in 1992, I went back to carry out research directly related to transplantation," said Starzl, who is now moving toward full retirement. "That helped change the field as much as anything I did seeing patients."
Without a doubt, Starzl shaped modern transplantation.
But Starzl's story also includes the night he slept on a park bench because he was too poor to afford a hotel room before he took general surgery board examinations. Not to mention the fact that he was there because his transplant research seemed to have hit a wall.
His story includes the gut-wrenching silence in the operating room when his 3-year-old patient died from complications in the earliest attempt at human liver transplantation.
"The surgeons stayed in the operating room for a long time after, sitting on the low stools and saying nothing," Starzl writes in his book, "The Puzzle People," which hit New York Times' best-seller list. "It was not the last time I would see this scene, both in my dreams and in reality."
But that wasn't the end of the story.
For that, 6-year-old Erin Brenner has much reason to be thankful, even though she may not know it yet.
Brenner, who competed in the 2008 U.S. Transplant Games, received a liver transplant. That transplant would not have been possible without Starzl's research and breakthroughs.
Now Brenner plays soccer and softball, participates in gymnastics and karate, and is a girl scout.
The 6-year-old is just one of thousands.
Lighting the torch at the games, Starzl said, was significant because he saw people who have received transplants live with gusto on the athletic field.
He got to see them face-to-face as he greeted them, threw the ceremonial first ball at the basketball competition, presided over races and handed out medals at the track and field events.
"There's some gratification because I had some of them as patients," he said. "It means they've returned to society."