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In 1954, Ronald Herrick was faced with the toughest decision a 23-year-old could face. He could watch his brother Richard die of kidney failure. Or, risk donating one of his kidneys in what was then the most experimental and unproven surgery – human organ transplantation. The recently discharged Korean War veteran was perplexed. “It was shocking even to consider the idea. I felt a real conflict of emotions...,” he recollected in Dr. Joseph E. Murray’s book, Surgery of the Soul. The Herrick case represented a new frontier for medicine with great repercussions for the future. Recognizing the ethical considerations of the surgery they contemplated, Murray and his team consulted with medical and spiritual leaders. All these deliberations helped clarify and solidify what the team knew to be true – that a desperately ill young man had the potential to be cured. With courage and conviction, the team agreed they should move forward. There were also medical challenges including genetic tests to verify that Richard and Ronald were a compatible match. As an added precaution, Murray had the twins fingerprinted by the Boston Police, inadvertently tipping off reporters to the major story. But perhaps the most sensitive issue for the team was dealing with Ronald Herrick’s concerns.Looking back on his decision 50 years later, Ronald Herrick said, “It was something I felt I had to do.” Murray would later comment, “The real hero in that first surgery was Ronald Herrick, the donor. The rest of the team were mere facilitators.”It is a role that is receiving renewed appreciation from the transplant community at large.
In a message aired at the recent American Transplant Congress in Boston, U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson singled out Herrick for special recognition as the first living donor. Herrick, along with BWH’s Charles Carpenter, MD, accepted a special award given to the hospital in commemoration of the first transplant surgery. And in a poignant epilogue, physicians from around the world lined up to have their photographs taken with him. Today a vigorous 73-year-old, Herrick farms and fishes in Belgrade, Maine. He is a retired University of Maine math professor. Recipient Richard married his recovery room nurse and had two children. Ultimately, he re-contracted nephritis and died in 1962. Many members of the extended Herrick family attended a recent dinner honoring Murray. As Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA, BWH president, said in his remarks, “We would not be here today if Ron’s brotherly love, selflessness, courage and faith in Dr. Murray and his medical team had not made this outstanding milestone possible. Thank you, Mr. Herrick.”