Gift of life: Sisters receive new kidneys
Courtesy of Karen Overcashier
Patti Shutok of North Strabane Township underwent a kidney transplant in September 2021. She is now back on the waiting list for a new kidney.
Courtesy of Karen Overcashier
Sherry Utlak is one of three sisters who needed a kidney transplant due to polycystic kidney disease, a hereditary disease. She successfully underwent a kidney transplant in November.
Courtesy of Karen Overcashier
Three of the five Shutok sisters – Sherry Utlak, Patti Shutok, and Karen Overcashier – suffer from polycystic kidney disease and have undergone kidney transplants. From left are Utlak, Shutok, Susie Duckworth, Overcashier, and Mimi May. Duckworth and May, who did not qualify as living donors for their sisters, have served as caregivers for the close-knit siblings.
Courtesy Karen Overcashier
Of the five close-knit Shutok sisters, the three middle sisters – from left, Karen Overcashier, Sherry Utlak and Patti Shutok – suffer from polycystic kidney disease and have undergone kidney transplants. Overcashier and Utlak are doing well, but Shutok, whose kidney has not worked since her September 2021 transplant surgery, is undergoing tests to get back on the transplant list.
Karen Overcashier and her family are no strangers to organ transplantation.
Karen, 65, of North Strabane Township, received a kidney transplant in December 2019, nearly three years before her older sisters, Patti Shutok and Sherry Utlak, underwent transplants.
The family is impacted by polycystic kidney disease, an inherited disorder that causes cyst clusters to grow on the kidneys and destroys health tissue, and ultimately leads to kidney failure.
It is the most common hereditary disease in the United States, affecting about 800,000 people in the United States each year.
Karen was diagnosed at 14 years old, when she was a middle school student. Sherry’s and Patti’s disease manifested in their 40s and 50s.
The sisters’ father, the late Stanley Shutok, underwent a kidney transplant when he was 65 years old, and the organ functioned for nearly 22 years, until his death at age 88. Other family members, including Sherry’s daughter, have been diagnosed with PKD over the years.
Karen and her sisters say they are thankful beyond measure for the generosity of their donors and their donors’ families, who have given them hope for long and healthy futures.
“You can’t put into words what it means. Grateful, blessed … it’s a blessing, they are so unselfish for doing that. But for the families of deceased family members, you have such sympathy for the family, and putting into words how to thank them is the hardest thing,” said Karen.
Dr. Reem Daloul, a transplant nephrologist and Medical Director of Living Donor Kidney Transplant with AHN Medicine Institute, said the only treatments available for PKD are dialysis or kidney transplant
“There are a couple of options to slow the progression of the disease, but unfortunately, you cannot stop it. At some time in life, you’ll reach end-stage renal disease,” said Daloul.
In 2016, Karen started undergoing kidney dialysis three days a week. In 2018, she was added to a kidney transplant waiting list. But she faced the obstacle of time: the wait list for a new kidney can be seven years, and doctors weren’t sure her kidneys would keep her alive that long.
“I felt weak, I was exhausted all of the time. All of my energy was gone,” said Karen.
On Thanksgiving Day, her brother-in-law, Scott Overcashier (her husband, Pete’s, brother), had news for her.
“We were sitting at Thanksgiving dinner and he said, ‘You and I have a date at the end of December. I’ll meet you at the hospital. I’m going to give you one of my kidneys,'” recalled Karen. “Scott saved my life. He gave me back my life.”
Transplant surgery is considered one of medicine’s modern-day marvels, with organ transplant recipients gaining years of living.
Every day, Daloul sees the “miracle” of transplants.
“I love what I do because of how amazing it is. You won’t believe the impact it makes in people’s lives. You’re getting a brand new life, you’re saving someone else’s life. It is incredible that you can give someone a new life, give them extra years of life when they were doomed to die,” said Daloul. “I see patients before they get a kidney transplant and they have a low quality of life, and I see them after, and they say, ‘I didn’t know I could feel this way.’ There is nothing more amazing than the gift of life.”
Today, Karen feels more energetic than she has in years.
“I feel terrific,” said the grandmother of five grandchildren who now has the chance to watch her grandchildren grow.
After Karen’s transplant, the family’s attention turned to finding a living kidney donor, someone who would be willing to donate one of their two healthy kidneys like Scott Overcashier did, for Sherry and Patti.
Family for the Shutok sisters extends to uncles, aunts, and cousins, all of whom are very close. While several relatives stepped forward to undergo testing as living donors for Patti and Sherry, none qualified.
They also made Facebook posts asking for people to consider becoming donors for the sisters, who also were on the transplant waiting list.
In the end, the siblings received deceased-donor kidneys.
}Four months ago Patti, of North Strabane Township, underwent a kidney transplant at Allegheny General Hospital. Sherry, who lives in Florida, received a kidney two months later, in November 2022.
Sherry’s organ transplant was successful – there is a 97% success rate in the first year – and her recovery continues.
But Patti’s kidney has failed to function and she is undergoing tests to be placed back on the transplant list to receive another kidney.
Now, the family is rallying around Patti and resuming the search for a living kidney donor.
On a recent Facebook post, Karen Overcashier wrote, “We are still in search for a live kidney donor for my amazing sister Patti. Anyone under 70 years old can be tested. And from any state … Please, if you want to be a hero, contact Susan at AGH. Thank you and God bless the heroes.”
Said Daloul, “Unfortunately, kidney transplants, like anything in medicine, is not a 100%. While the success rate is very high, unfortunately there are some people who are unlucky. Despite that, right now she is working on getting another kidney transplant, and that tells you how much it impacts people’s lives.”
Currently, there are about 100,000 people across the United States waiting for a life-saving transplant, according to the Center for Organ Recovery and Education, including nearly 2,600 in CORE’s service region.
There is good news, however. In 2022, for the fourth year in a row, CORE reached a record-breaking number of organ, tissue and cornea donations across western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Chemung County, New York, with 858 life-saving transplants made possible by 334 organ donors. It was a 23% increase in organ transplants, according to CORE.
Nationwide, about 25,000 organ donations were made in 2022, also record-breaking.
The power of one donor is extraordinary, said Daloul.
“Eight people can be saved by one organ donor,” said Daloul, adding that an esteemed 100 lives can be healed through tissue donation. “But the gap between the people in need and the organs available is humongous. We are trying to shrink the gap and highlight the importance of donation.”
Karen and her family are advocates for organ transplants, and encourage family and friends to register as organ donors on their driver’s license.
And Scott and Karen Overcashier celebrate their “anniversary” every Dec. 27, the day Scott donated his kidney and Karen received a second chance at life. This year, she bought Scott tickets to a Pittsburgh Penguins game.
“I’m very glad I did it,” said Scott, who attended a banquet for donors and recipients at Allegheny General Hospital months after surgery. “I saw the number of people who do this – many who don’t even know the person they donated to – and I felt almost embarrassed that I had any thoughts of self-doubt after I made the decision to donate. I only need one.”
For information on becoming a living donor for Patti Shutok or to find out more information about kidney donation, contact AHN Transplant Institute Kidney Donor Program at (412) 359-4441.