We went to Disney World on our honeymoon and had supplies shipped to our hotel room in Orlando before we left Omaha. At Disney World, we had to identify all the first-aid stations at the park so we could make arrangements for me to do my exchanges. In November of 1988, Leonard underwent his first kidney transplant at St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha. The process is known as a cadaver transplant because the organ came from a person who died. In Leonard's case, the donor was a middle-aged male.
Some people think the process disfigures the body.
As far as I'm concerned, this is clearly one of those misconceptions. We're only on this earth for so long. The main goal of transplantation is to deal with the complications of chronic kidney failure so the patient can experience a better quality of life. Leonard's first kidney transplant lasted two months shy of a decade. In September of 1998, he began peritoneal dialysis once again.