Apr 1, 2008 6:00 am US/Eastern
SHOCK: Teen's Donated Organs Lead To Cancer Deaths
Long Island 15-Year-Old's Family Unknowingly Gave Up Body Parts Containing Rare Lymphoma
Two Have Died; Two Others Facing Chemotherapy
SAG HARBOR, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Alex Koenhe's parents thought the 15-year-old died of bacterial meningitis. It turns out that horror was just the beginning of a far greater nightmare.
CBS
They thought they were helping others by donating their son's organs. Instead those organs spread a rare, undiagnosed form of cancer.
Alex Koehne passed away a year ago from lymphoma. Since then, two of the 15-year-old donor's recipients have died and two others are battling the same disease.
Exactly one year later Jim and Lisa Koehne of Sag Harbor are reliving their son's death.
"He finally took his last breath," Lisa Koehne said through tears on Monday. "And I said to … please take care of him."
Doctors told the Koehne's bacterial meningitis had suddenly killed their son, and Alex had decided to donate his organs.
"One way he could do that, because he would never reach his dreams, was to donate his organs," Lisa Koehne said. "And he could help people."
Added Jim Koehne: "That was his thing in life. He was always there. He was always there to help people. He was always there to help the next kid."
That decision was the beginning of an unending nightmare. The Koehne's had demanded an autopsy. One month later they found out Alex actually died of a rare lymphoma. It was too late. The organs were already donated.
"(The doctor) said, 'Jim I don't want to upset you, but we've heard something from the recipients that two of them had died from cancer,'" Jim Koehne said.
Due to HIPPA privacy laws, the Koehne's never met the recipients but according to the American Journal of Transplantation, the 15-year-old victim donated:
* A liver to a 52-year-old man who has since died.
* His pancreas to a 36-year-old woman who has since died.
* His kidneys to a pair of me, ages 46 and 64. The organs were later removed and both are undergoing chemotherapy.
"It was like him dying all over again," Lisa Koehne said.
The New York State Department of Health issued a statement as well, saying:
"We did not find flaws in policies, procedures and actions at Stony Brook concerning the case of the 15-year-old boy with transplanted organs," spokeswoman Claudia Hutton said.
But the Koehne's are horrified. Someone must be held accountable. How can doctors and the New York Organ Donor Network allow untested organs be transplanted?
NYU and the University of Minnesota – two hospitals that transplanted Alex's organs -- have changed protocol and procedures since Alex's case came to light.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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