Pamela Swanson

Jackson, Miss., and Rochester, Minn., are approximately 1,000 miles apart. But, that distance doesn't deter Pam Swanson, a resident of Jackson, from recommending Mayo Clinic to everyone she knows.

"Even though it's a thousand miles away, I wouldn't go anywhere else for my care. It's just different up there. It's the people — the doctors and staff. They are so professional, yet so caring. We've sent lots of people we know up there."

Pam's recommendation comes from a wealth of personal experience. After living with diabetes for 20 years, the disease took its toll on her kidneys. To combat kidney failure, she underwent a kidney transplant at Mayo Clinic in July 1999. She followed it up one year later with a pancreas transplant in July 2000 that cured her diabetes.

"After my second transplant, I walked away from Mayo Clinic with a new pancreas and a brand new life," she says. "Isn't that wonderful?"

Traveling a rough road

The road to Pam's brand new life was not a smooth one. Several years after being diagnosed with diabetes and beginning daily insulin shots, she started to experience complications from the disease.

"I was really feeling bad," says Pam. "My husband, Jerry, had been to Mayo Clinic before and liked it, and we have a friend who also has gone to Mayo for years. They both insisted I go there."

When Pam traveled to Rochester for the first time, she learned that her diabetes was out of control. Although her Mayo Clinic physicians were able to help her take steps to better manage the disease, her condition continued to deteriorate over the next several years. In 1999, Pam was suffering from frequent bladder and kidney infections. The Mayo physician she had been seeing referred Pam to Timothy Larson, M.D., a nephrologist in Mayo Clinic's Transplant Center.

"When I first visited with Dr. Larson, he told me I had some time left with my kidneys, but I would need a transplant because they were starting to fail," says Pam. "After that, I flew back home and things got worse. I had no energy. I was throwing up all the time. It was a bad deal. I was either in the hospital, in the emergency room or sick at home."

Another trip to Mayo revealed that Pam's need for a kidney transplant was imminent. Dr. Larson told her the time had come to get on the organ transplant list or to consider the option of having a family member donate a kidney. Pam's younger sister volunteered to be her donor and, fortunately, turned out to be a good match. On July 12, 1999, Pam received a kidney from her sister and the effects, she recalls, were almost immediate.

"I remember very distinctly that four hours after I woke up from that surgery, I felt like a different person," says Pam. "I was groggy, but I could tell the difference. I have pictures from before the surgery and pictures from the day after my surgery, and I even looked different. I was still swollen, but I actually had some color."

Leaving diabetes behind

Pam remained in Rochester for eight weeks after the transplant. As she recovered and regained her energy, Dr. Larson suggested she consider being placed on the organ donation list for a pancreas. With a pancreas transplant, Pam would likely be rid of her diabetes for good. She agreed, and her name went on the list.

After recovering from the kidney transplant, Pam returned to Jackson to enjoy her new-found energy. "When I went home, I had a life that I had not known for years. I was able to do things again, go places, enjoy my family," says Pam. "It was amazing."

On the first anniversary of her kidney transplant, July 12, 2000, Pam awoke to a ringing phone at 2 a.m. The Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon on the other end told her they had a pancreas for her, and she should come to Rochester right away. Pam and Jerry got on a plane and were at Mayo Clinic by 7 a.m.

"When I went into surgery, that afternoon, I asked the doctor, 'Now, what am I going to do with my insulin pump?' He said, 'If all goes well today — and we think it will — you take that pump off, and you won't have to worry about it," says Pam. "I'll never forget that."

The surgery went well, and Pam was able to go home shortly after her second transplant.

Making an unexpected return

Pam's medical journey didn't end there, though. Several months after she and Jerry came back to Jackson, she experienced complications from the pancreas transplant and required hospitalization.

Rather than try to make the trip to Mayo on their own, this time Jerry called in the professionals. He contacted Mayo Medical Transport and arranged for a Mayo MedAir aircraft to transport Pam to Rochester. Mayo MedAir is configured as a mobile intensive-care unit. Care is provided during transport by staff who have equipment comparable to that of an emergency room or critical-care unit. A communications system allows the health care team to communicate in real time with specialists at Mayo Clinic.

"It was so reassuring to see the MedAir plane waiting at the airport when we arrived in the ambulance," says Jerry. "I was nervous and upset, but I calmed down when I saw that they knew what they were doing. They had Pam's records and understood what her situation was."

Pam doesn't remember much about that trip or her first few hours in Rochester. But she does recall feeling a sense of relief. "I just felt like I was home, in a comfort zone," she says.

"When we landed in Rochester, it was cold, but the plane was backed into a heated hangar and the ambulance was there waiting," says Jerry. "We had Pam in the ambulance going to the hospital immediately. When we arrived, we went right through patient receiving. They already knew who we were and where we were going."

Pam's health care team was waiting for her. Although correcting the complications required another surgery, Pam's recovery progressed smoothly from that point on, and she hasn't experienced any problems since.

"I don't have diabetes anymore; my life is totally different," says Pam. "I can enjoy time with my children now. My husband and I have a life. I can enjoy living in Jackson knowing that Mayo Clinic care is always quickly available. My doctor here in Jackson is in contact with my doctors at Mayo Clinic. They are working together to monitor my health, and they are all doing a tremendous job. It's like Mayo Clinic is just around the corner."