Northwestern Memorial News Blog

For the first time, a kidney that had been donated to a patient was removed and implanted into a new patient, the third individual to have the organ, after it failed in the first transplant recipient. Ray Fearing, a 27-year-old Arlington Heights resident received the organ from his sister, Cera, after a long battle with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a disease in which scar tissue develops on the part of the kidney that filters waste out of the blood, ultimately causing kidney failure. When signs of his illness reoccurred just days after he received the organ and posed life-threatening symptoms, doctors informed Fearing that they would have no choice but to remove the failing kidney. They also informed Fearing that he could potentially save someone else’s life by donating the organ and allowing doctors to re-implant it into another patient in need of transplant, something that had never successfully been done before with a kidney.

Subtle personality changes are often the earliest symptoms of major mental illness, making it easy for initial warning signs to be missed, or even ignored. But experts warn that waiting until someone is so ill that the psychological sickness is unmistakable can be detrimental and can lead to long-term health concerns. In an effort to end the waiting game, Northwestern Medicine® behavioral health experts from the Stone Institute of Psychiatry at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have launched First Contact, a program aimed at preventing the onset of long-term disability due to severe mental illness by increasing awareness of signs and symptoms and encouraging people to seek help earlier.

When dealing with the anguish of watching a loved one’s health decline, family members are often overwhelmed with grief and confusion. It is a trying time for everyone involved, making it important that families pull together. When medical decisions must be made, the situation is made even more stressful as family members debate healthcare decisions and question who best knows the patient’s wishes. Advanced directives are a free and relatively easy to complete document that can alleviate this stress by making one’s wishes clear so family members may act accordingly.

Although we officially welcomed the first day of spring this week, the mild Chicago winter made it feel more like spring on several occasions. While the early arrival of warmer temperatures was welcomed by many, seasonal allergy symptoms began earlier and experts predict a more severe season ahead. Anju Peters, MD, an allergist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, suggests taking a preemptive approach in order to get ahead of symptoms before they get you down.

“Seasonal allergies are going to affect us differently this year,” said Peters. “The mild winter created a longer growing season, which means an earlier start to allergy season. It may also lead to a season that is more severe than usual.”

Pollen counts are expected to be heavier than average, and tree pollen, the biggest culprit for spring allergies, may run rampant, creating misery for allergy sufferers along the way.

For more than 150 years, Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s longstanding commitment to serve the healthcare needs of Chicago and our surrounding community has been a hallmark of the organization. The partnerships and initiatives created have successfully improved health outcomes in our neighborhoods by bringing efficiency to health care access and broadening the scope of health education programming. As a physician and administrative leader of the organization, it is rewarding to be an extension of Northwestern Memorial’s legacy of service to our community.

Throughout my tenure at Northwestern, I have had the privilege of working with our staff as well as various partner organizations to develop and implement programs and initiatives that have greatly impacted the Chicagoland area and the world. Four of these key initiatives include: the Diabetes Collaborative, asset donation, the Medical Explorers program and Chicago Cares Serve-a-Thon.