Contact: Will Sansom, 210-567-2579

Dr. John Mangos watches as his grandchildren release butterflies earlier this year honoring kidney transplant donors and recipients. The children are (left to right) Erin Umbel, Ben Gardea, Cali Umbel, Brooke Goodwin, Kasey Goodwin, Kathryn Gardea and Rebekah Gardea.
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SAN ANTONIO (Nov. 11, 2009) — For half a century, countless young patients and families have given thanks for the tender loving care of pediatrician John Mangos, M.D., of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. In his distinguished career, he has developed innovative programs to help infants, youths and families coping with HIV/AIDS and conducted significant research of cystic fibrosis to advance care of a lung disease that typically claims its young victims.

This holiday season will be meaningful for this special man. Dr. Mangos and his family are thankful for a donor kidney given by his son-in-law, David Umbel — a gift of life that restored the former pediatrics department chairman to good health and enabled him to come back at work.

Dr. Mangos, 77, received the kidney earlier this year at the University Transplant Center, a partnership of the Health Science Center and University Hospital. He had been on renal dialysis for more than a year. His kidneys were damaged as the result of an episode of insufficient blood supply pumped by his heart. “My heart improved, but my kidneys did not,” he said.

Dr. Mangos began dialysis in early 2007 and met Wajeh Qunibi, M.D., professor of nephrology who sees patients of UT Medicine San Antonio, the School of Medicine’s multispecialty physician practice.

“I realized I could live and work around dialysis,” Dr. Mangos said, “but there was the nagging thought: Could I be free and not dependent? I asked Dr. Qunibi, who gave me information about a kidney transplant. Over the age of 75, it is pretty difficult to get a transplant. I thought I would stay with dialysis as long as I could.”

Living donor transplantation is available for older patients
One day Dr. Mangos was at a meeting with transplant surgeon Glenn Halff, M.D., interim dean of the Health Science Center School of Medicine and director of the University Transplant Center. “I turned to Dr. Halff and asked, ‘Why don’t you transplant older patients?’ He said, ‘We do.’”

“I told him that the prospect of a successful outcome, not age, is the determining factor,” Dr. Halff said.

David Umbel, left, donated a kidney to his father-in-law, Dr. John Mangos, right

Dr. Mangos’ journey to becoming a transplant patient was under way. The University Transplant Center did due diligence — three months of tests — to make sure the respected pediatrician would be a good recipient. The conclusion was positive. He could receive a kidney from either a living donor or a donor who had passed away.

Son-in-law was the perfect match
Dr. Mangos has four daughters who he described as “militant” caregivers. They held a meeting with him to discuss the transplant. “For one reason or another none of my daughters could give me a kidney,” Dr. Mangos said. “I got scared. Then David came up and said he wanted to try. I said, ‘Are you sure, David?’ He said yes and now we needed to make sure of the match.” (Matching tests can indicate whether a donor’s organs or tissues will be compatible with, or rejected by, a recipient.)

Umbel is married to Dr. Mangos’ daughter, Elena. Dr. Mangos called David “my Marine” and said: “He is an Irish-German young man from Maryland, a custom homebuilder after he left the military, who matched perfectly with a Greek American who came to this country 50 years ago. I did not expect to get one of his kidneys, but I guess it was meant to be. We’ve always been close.”

Typical waiting time for organ transplantation is six years
Had Umbel not matched, Dr. Mangos could have spent considerable time on the United Network of Organ Sharing kidney transplant waiting list. The average wait time is six years. Instead, Dr. Mangos has a new kidney and is enjoying his 11 grandchildren.

“As a Greek Orthodox priest, I believe that miracles still happen every day,” Dr. Mangos said. “During this time of Thanksgiving and the holidays, I am thankful to God for my miracle of kidney transplantation.”

Erin Umbel, 11, one of David’s daughters, summed up the family’s feelings about what her father has done: “He like, it is so nice of him. I want to thank him for doing that!”

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is one of the leading research institutions in Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $753.4 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $37 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 26,750 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.