GILROY
– During the season of giving, one South County teacher is in
need of a gift of life.
GILROY – During the season of giving, one South County teacher is in need of a gift of life. Katy Tamura – a wife and mother, resident of Morgan Hill for years and past teacher at area schools – has been diagnosed with a rare liver disease and is in need of a live liver donor.
Tamura suffers from hemacromatosis, and she needs a donor with type “O” blood to donate half a liver to save her life.
“She didn’t know she had it. It’s hereditary, passed down from her parents,” said Sherri Miguel, a friend of Tamura.
The disease causes her body to have difficulty processing iron, which in turn has lead to cirrhosis of the liver.
Tamura hasn’t just had to battle the disease; she’s also had to wrestle with uncooperative insurance companies. She was denied coverage by her insurance provider before an appointment at the Stanford Liver Clinic, Miguel said. Numerous letters from Tamura’s doctors were sent pleading her case, stating the fact that the Stanford Clinic was the only place she could get the help she needed, but she was continually denied under the pretense that her insurance would be switching to another company in a few weeks. She was eventually reapproved one day before her insurance ran out – although appointments at Stanford take a week to set up. Two months passed before she had an appointment at Stanford under her new insurance.
Tamura is now on a list for a liver donor, and while she is near the top of the list due to her rare “O”-negative blood type, organ donors in California are particularly rare, and it could be a long time before she gets one.
The live liver transplant, which would take place at the Stanford Liver Clinic, would involve removing one lobe from the donor’s liver and transplanting it into Tamura. The liver of both the donor and the recipient would then grow to accommodate the missing half, allowing both to function normally, with a two-week recovery period for the donor.
A donor for Tamura should be at least 130 pounds and in generally good health, Miguel explained.
“She was a teacher in the community for about 20 years. There’s a lot of people who love this woman,” said Gail Garduque, a friend of Tamura. “She’s touched a lot of lives. She’s touched our lives in the way that we want to do something. This is what we’re doing, we’re trying to get the word out.” In the past, Tamura has taught at Valley Christian Academy, Morgan Hill Country School, Pacific West Christian Academy and other schools.
Katy is the wife of Irving Tamura of Tamura Designs, and the mother of children Kirsten and Parker Tamura.
Anyone interested in becoming a donor can contact the Stanford Liver Clinic at (650) 498-7878. For more information on Katy Tamura, visit www.friendsofkaty.org.
