How Two Transplants Changed My Life

Eight years ago, Denise Higgins felt half alive.  Diagnosed at age 10 with diabetes, she was constantly exhausted, living in perpetual fear of passing out from hypoglycemic unawareness, and ending up under the wheel of a car on New York City's busy streets.

“I was taking four shots of insulin and checking my blood sugar eight times daily. I could eat the same thing day after day and still my blood sugar was so erratic,” says Denise Higgins. She vividly remembers the weekend when “My kidneys fell off the cliff. I was in such a bad state of insulin shock. My mother tried helping me by giving me glucagon injections, but they didn’t work. I was rushed to the hospital and was in a coma for two days.”

After living through the worst of her fears, life began to turn around for Denise. She attended a presentation by Dr. David Sutherland who was attending a conference in New York.  “Dr. Sutherland was so inspirational.  He spoke about pancreas transplantation, and gave me hope for the first time,” says Denise.

Several months later at the age of 39, she became Dr. Sutherland’s patient, successfully receiving a kidney transplanted from her older sister, Kathy.  Following the kidney transplant, working with her endocrinologist, Denise formally began the wait for a pancreas from a deceased human donor. She waited 10 months. “Life for me really did begin at 40. I got a call in the middle of the night that they had a good pancreas match for me. The transplant was successful. It’s been miraculous; it has transformed my life. Even to this day, I can’t believe I’m insulin-free. You would never know I lived through all that horror. I get down on my knees every day and thank God that Dr. Sutherland exists,” said Denise.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the family of 19-year-old Kenneth Hitter suffered the tragic loss of their son’s life in a motorcycle crash. They chose to direct Kenneth’s organs to people waiting life-sustaining organ transplants.  Denise was one of them.

Kenneth’s mother, Lee Renee Hitter said, “Before my son was in the accident, organ donation was something we had never talked about.” Once she and her family were given the choice about donating her son’s organs, they knew instantly it was what her son would have wanted. “I feel like he chose these people who received his organs — his heart, liver and pancreas,” she said. Kenneth (pictured below) had graduated from high school in 1997, and had enrolled at the University of Minnesota – Duluth, in pre-dentistry.

Lee Renee continued, “My son should have died instantly but his heart beat long enough to get him to the hospital. I was the first one to the hospital and from what I understand, it was a miracle that his organs were still intact.”

Denise wrote letters of gratitude to the Hitter family, sending them through The Transplant Center at the University of Minnesota immediately after her transplant, and on the one-year and five-year anniversaries thereafter.  "I am just in awe that in their darkest hour with their son dying, this family had the strength, compassion and presence of mind to donate his organs," said Denise.

This past year, Lee Renee said she finally came to a place of peace where she was ready to correspond and meet with the individuals who were now living normal lives with her son's organs.  The Hitter family has not yet met the boy who received their son's liver.

"My son's heart went to a man who is his grandfather all over again.  We had lost his grandfather earlier in the same year my son died.  I met the heart recipient this summer.  I had a stethoscope with me and I heard the heart beat.  In our minds, our son still lives on," she added.

In February of this year, Lee Renee, her youngest son, and a nephew who was very close to Kenneth, flew to New York to meet Denise.  The photo above captures their memorable time together (Back row L-R: Edward Higgins, Lee Renee Hitter's nephew, Geralyn Higgins, and Kathy Higgins.  Front row L-R: Brian Hitter, Joan Higgins, Denise Higgins, and Lee Renee Hitter).  "It is wonderful to know that Denise is disease-free after the life she had prior to the transplant," said Lee Renee.

"It's comforting for us to know that these are exactly the kind of people we would have chosen to receive our son's organs.  I can't encourage people enough to talk about organ donation with their families and do it.  If some good can come out of a tragedy, it can give you peace.  I encourage people to communicate with organ recipients when they feel ready.  The more I learn about these people, the more peace I feel," she said.

In their own way, Denise's family has continued the circle of giving.  In October 2003, Denise's father, Edward R. Higgins, died after a long illness.  Denise's family chose to contribute memorials honoring Edward to the Diabetes Institute for Immunology and Transplantation (DIIT).  The memorials received have been designated to purchase a Hugbox.  This is a new and special piece of equipment designed to carefully and effectively transport donated pancreases to the DIIT for transplantation into patients awaiting transplantation of insulin-producing tissue, via whole-organ or cellular transplantation.