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April 25. 2007
Kidney Transplant Need Grows Critical
Finding a match
proves difficult
by V alerie
Xavier McCleod, 3, was born with a condition that has left him in
critical need of a kidney transplant.
J ames
When you first meet Xavier,
you'd never know he's sick. He looks
and acts like a typical rambunc
tious three-year-old boy, who likes
to play football, basketball, base
ball and jump off things.
However, Xavier suffers from
chronic renal failure, due to a con
dition he was diagnosed with be
fore he was born called Posterior
Urethral Valves. This is an abnor
mality that affects only male infants
and occurs in about one in 8,000
births. As a result, Xavier is in need
of a new kidney.
My husband and I were heart
broken to learn that we could not be
living donors because we suffer
from diabetes and high blood pres
sure. Xavier’s name was placed on
the organ transplant list Oct. 6,2005
and he is still waiting for a match.
As a parent, you do not under
stand the severity of it all until you
actually start to live through it.
Xavier receives 10 hours of perito
neal dialysis each night to help
keep him alive. He receives Epogen
shots once a week to treat anemia
(low red blood cells). He receives a
growth hormone shot every night
donate in proportion to their share more likely and more timely when
of the population, their need for donors and potential recipients are
transplants is much greater. Afri members of the same ethnic back
can Americans, for example, are ground.
about 13 percent of the population,
Minority patients may have to
about 12 percent of donors, and wait longer for matched kidneys
about 23 percent of the kidney and, therefore, may be sicker at time
waiting list.
of transplant or die waiting. With
more donated organs from minori
ties, finding a match will bequicker
and the waiting time will be redueed.
Xavier’s name has come up on
the list, but each time someone else
has come up as a perfect match for
the kidney.
Many times when we are faced
with a tragedy, the last thing on our
mind is donating our loved ones
organs, but think what this would
do for families like mine. Y ou would
to help stimulate growth. Xavier
Successful transplantation is be giving another family a very
also requires daily tube feedings to often enhanced by matching of special gift. The gift of life!
provide needed nutrients to help organs between members of the
To becom e an organ donor
obtain and maintain growth.
same racial and ethnic group. Gen please visit donatelife.net/. You
The rate of organ donation in erally. people are genetically more should also make your wishes
minority communities does not similar to people o f their own known toother family members.
keep pace with the number needing ethnicity or race than to people of
Valerie James is from San Di
transplants. Although minorities other races. Therefore, matches are ego, Calif.
My husband and / were heart broken to
learn that we could not be living donors
because we suffer from diabetes and high
blood pressure. Xavier’s name was placed
on the organ transplant list Oct. 6, 2005
and he is still waiting fo r a match.
Talkers Play to Narrow Audience
continued
from Front
immediately threaten the conser
vative dominance of radio in a so
ciety that is becoming increasingly
liberal.
"The public, not the FCC (Fed
eral Communications Commission)
stepped in and drew the line of
tolerance, which is good," says
McNamara. "He (Imus) didn't say
anything illegal, but what he said
was terribly inappropriate... Maybe
that’s a good thing that we are
becoming racially sensitive in our
remarks."
Standards of decency aside, the
incident reveals the widening gap
between an angry public and a ra
dio industry unable to adjust its
programming accordingly.
Last week, U.S. Rep. Caroyln
Kilpatrick, chair of the Congres
sional Black Caucus, said the ineq
uity of minority voices on the air
waves would only be resolved if
the FCC changed its rules "to pro
vide women and minorities with
greater access to the media.”
Kilpatrick may be getting to
the root of the problem, but ac
cording to M cNamara, it’s not
that radio station managers are
run by a bunch of ultra-conser
vative bigwig owners unwilling
to serve the public.
McNamara says, "KXL is not a
dictatorship run by Tim McNamara.
If that was the case. I’d be playing
Van Morrison all the time." He also
indicated he would personally fa
vor more environmental program
ming.
But McNamara goes after what
he calls the biggest prize in talk
radio, a demographic of mostly
upper income white males, age 35 to
64. To help meet that goal, he hires
conservatives commentators like
Lars Larson, who con tinue to argue
that the scientific evidence for glo
bal warming is thin.
McNamara says his hands are
tied because of a system that sur
veys 2,000 people to determine the
ratings for a Portland metro area of
two million.
The margin of error on such
surveys is only the beginning of
the problem. Higher income white
people are more likely to receive
and have time to fill out a survey,
thereby skewing the market for
advertising toward stations that
reach these people.
"We have a format that appeals
to one type of lifestyle and educa
tion level; that ’ s what every station
does," says McNamara, “That psy
chographic is conservative talk ra
dio.”
This explains why a progressive
city like Portland has one liberal
station out of six commercial con
servative talk stations. But why
can’t radio producers target vari
ous kinds of listeners at the same
time?
McNamara says it’s because
ratings suffer when different people
come on to listen to two different
BREWING JOBS
Ö
¡ d o IN NEWPORT.
There is a w orldw ide boom of microbrews. Many believe it
started right here in Oregon and Lottery profits have played
a part by supporting one of Oregon's original c ra ft brewers,'
Rogue Ale. Launched in 1989 w ith five employees in an
800 sg. foot warehouse, Rogue Ale is now one of the largest
a JP?
_
breweries in the state. They are a cornerstone of the Newport
economy, providing secure fam ily-wage jobs th a t include
health insurance and 401K plans. They operate four pubs
and employ 200 Oregonians across the state. Theirs is a
small business success story and the Lottery has been a key
player in two im p orta nt chapters.
Back in the early days, when Rogue Ale was a small upstart
no bank would take a chance on, Lottery profits helped them
expand th eir fa c ility and gave them the clout they needed to
get additional loans. Several years later, as Rogue Ale was
ready to make another leap, the Lottery provided a grant to
help m arket th e ir products in Japan. Exports now account
for 9% of sales and Rogue Ale is an inspiration to
entrepreneurs - and revolutionaries - a ll over the world.
W ith the help of Lottery profits, Rogue Ale has become one
of Oregon's leading producers of c ra ft beer and a vita l part
of the microbrew industry which generates over $2.25 billion
dollars a year fo r the economy. Support fo r Oregon's small
businesses is just one of the ways Oregon wins when Oregonians
play. Lottery p ro fits also go to education, watershed
enhancement and parks across the state.
itdoesgoodthings.org
OREGON
LOTTERY
It does good things
I
I
ry
*rr b .w d on eh,nt*' .irvi should hr pUiy*'*! for tnle
types of shows in a row.
“ A rbitron tracks how long
people listen,” McNamara said. “I
have to have some form of continu
ous information in the same forums
that appeal to the audience we tar
get."
The alternative for eclectic
non-commercial stations is to beg
listeners twice a year for support.
Cecil Prescod, who co-hosts
the Monday morning “More Talk
Radio” show on KBOO, says “the
advantage is that a noncom m er
cial radio station can see them
selves with a different mission
th at’s not driven by making more
profit. With a diversity o f music
and talk programming, it can pro
vide the opportunity for people
to literally come off the street and
share their message with the com
munity.”
The question that rem ains is
whether Portland will take the lead
in making sure diversity is w i del y
represented on the air.
Waiting for Adoption
Child looks
to the future
Naturally charm
ing, Deanna is both
playful and delight
ful. After some ini
tial shyness with
stra n g e rs,
she
warms up quickly
and can soon be
found smiling and
laughing. On the
cusp of turning 11
years old, Deanna
desires greatly to u a a n n a
find her adoptive family.
Deanna positively sparkles
when showered with the genu
ine, nurturing individualized at
tention. She is ready to be a
family' s shi ning star! Deanna has
been working hard in counseling
treatment in order to leave child-
hood trauma behind and move
forward into a healthier and hap
pier place.
Deanna would adjust well to a
loving household where she is
the youngest or only
child and is able to
receive significant
adult attention. As
she c o n tin u e s to
heal with the support
of caring adoptive
parents, Deanna will
blossom into the
beautiful girl she is
already becoming.
She is one of ap
proximately 300 Or
egon children available for adop
tion through the state, generally
because of abuse and neglect.
For more information on the
availability of this child or on how
to become a foster or adoptive
parent, contact the Special Needs
Adoption Coalition at 503-542-
2392orDHSat 1-800-331-0503.