‘Tis the season of giving, but Stanley Galvin of Pemaquid has taken generosity to another level. He decided to donate a kidney to a stranger, hoping to help another Mainer live a long, healthy life. He ended up helping three.
Galvin is part of the largest kidney transplant chain ever to occur within Maine’s borders, triggering a succession of surgeries that involved two more donors who provided organs to three ailing recipients. The six individuals, all of them Maine residents, met for the first time Monday morning in Portland.
Surgeons at Maine Medical Center performed the half dozen surgeries in a single day, scrubbing in at 6 a.m. Nov. 4 and staying in the operating room until 9 p.m.
Pemaquid man’s altruism sparks kidney transplant chain that unites 6 Mainers
Other top health stories this week:
Federal appeals court rejects LePage administration attempt to trim Medicaid rolls
About 6,000 19- and 20-year-old low-income Mainers will continue to receive health insurance coverage under MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, after a federal court ruling against Gov. Paul LePage’s administration on Monday.
Maine CDC reports outbreak of chickenpox at school in Penobscot County
Maine health officials confirmed Wednesday that there is a chickenpox outbreak in one Penobscot County school, but declined to identify the school or disclose how many children are infected.
From our bloggers
Pattie Reaves, After the Couch
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Jackie Conn, Sooner or Lighter
Thanksgiving Day Could Cost You 4500 Calories and 229 Grams of Fat!
Before you panic and worry that you’ll blow all the progress you made so far with your weight loss, let me assure you that a weight gain day isn’t going to keep you from getting to goal.
Compiled by BDN Health Editor Jackie Farwell
