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The First Successful Kidney Transplant

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Pericles once was so wise to say, “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven in the lives of others.” Early attempts at organ transplants stem back throughout history, however, the first successful kidney transplant was performed in 1954. Up until then, numerous people died deaths that could have been prevented by a transplant. The need for organs continues to grow as living increases in danger: new diseases emerge and new wars must be fought. Thankfully, this advancement within medicine has allowed for new fields to open up within society, and it has offered hope to those who had given up. Collaboration has never been greater than the teamwork shown throughout the process of organ transplants. “In …show more content…

Several in society believed that the heart was the source of life and if it was still beating, then the person was still alive. Be as it may, with this new availability of potential organs, it is nearly impossible to refute giving the gift of life to someone in need of them. People are constantly trying to think of new ways to prolong life, defeated death, or simply gain more knowledge about the human body and what it can withstand. “To early humans, as to all their descendants, the possibility of restoration of lost or mutilated parts of the body was a lively issue.” (Hamilton, Starzl, and Barker, 2012, pp. 1). Organ transplants have a long history full of minor successes and great failures, yet all of the past better paved the way for fortune feats to be conquered. The first blood transfusion that occurred between humans was executed by Dr. James Blundell in 1818, which led to later advances (Foran, 2014, pp. 100). Later, an ABO blood typing system was created by Karl Landsteiner in 1901, and was important first step toward success in the realm of organ transplants (Foran, 2014, pp. 100). There are different types of blood, which is significant due to the fact that each blood type has specific antigens that will attack other blood cells that are not alike. For instance, a person with A blood has antigens that

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