HEALTH: Pair are part of first international kidney transplant chain

Photo: Genene Wiebe of San Marcos and Bernard Tatum of Rancho Bernardo, are part of the first internationally paired donor kidney transplant chain. PAUL SISSON | psisson@nctimes.com

A Rancho Bernardo man and a San Marcos mother of four are links in a historic kidney-transplant chain that started 6,800 miles away in Greece.

The woman, 49-year-old Genene Wiebe, and her friend and co-worker Bernard Tatum, are part of the first international paired donor kidney transplant chain that has connected 10 donors and recipients and is soon to grow to an even dozen.

Tatum, who received a kidney through the transplant chain, and Wiebe, who donated one, shared their story during a news conference Friday at Scripps Green Hospital in La Jolla.

For Wiebe, the journey started in 2010 at Mesa View Baptist Church in Rancho Bernardo, where she works as an administrative assistant.

One day she noticed scars on the arms of Tatum, the chairman of Mesa View's board of directors.

"I asked him about them, and he said he had kidney disease," Wiebe recalled.

Seeing those scars, and learning that Tatum was on the kidney transplant waiting list ---- and that he had to undergo dialysis three days a week ---- got Wiebe researching organ transplants.

Read more: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/rancho-bernardo/health-pair-are-part-of-first-international-kidney-transplant-chain/article_05ea95c4-2b7a-5208-b082-f19e950c0297.html

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