TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS GET ON WITH LIFE

Every teen has concerns. A date for prom or a slipping grade-point average may be the main causes of anxiety for some, but for others the desperate need for an organ transplant supersedes all other worries.

Brett Hardebeck and Nick and Erica Herran are transplant recipients. All three have had to deal with failing kidneys and received kidney transplants before age 10.

Brett lives in Batesville and was diagnosed with kidney problems as a baby. "They were scrambled up like an egg is," said Brett, 17. "So in June of 1987, I had my first kidney transplant, and that was donated to me by my mom."

Brett has undergone three kidney transplants and currently has five kidneys in his body. Two of them are his original ones, "but they supposedly are like the size of a raisin," he said.

Erica and Nick Herran's health problems were discovered whey they were young, too. The Zionsville teens have renal-retinal dysplasia, in which their retinas deteriorate and their kidneys fail to grow as the rest of their bodies grows.

Erica was 8 when she received a new kidney, which was donated by her mother. Nick was 9 when he got his new kidney, donated by his father.

"We were getting to the stage," said Nick, now 17, "where if I didn't have another organ, I wouldn't be here today."

All three teens realize that organ donation is an act of love.

"I mean, they're great parents with a great love for us and everything, and for this reason we just knew they really loved us in every way," Nick said.

Erica, 18, agreed. "Before, we weren't close, and then we got a lot closer," she said of her mother.

Brett received kidneys from both family and strangers. While he knows nothing about the person from whom he got his second kidney, he knows a little bit about the third donor, whose kidney he received in October 1998.

"The third one was from a boy up here in Indianapolis," he said. "He was a 6-year-old. I think more about the parents -- how could they make that decision at such a horrible time?"

All are grateful to their donors, Brett especially, because he had to wait for his second and third kidneys. "How did I feel when I needed an organ? Scared. I knew what feeling good was about, and I knew when my organs started to fail."

For his second kidney, he had to wait about two weeks. His third took a month. Still, he was lucky -- the wait is often much longer. "I remember children saying that when you get it, it's going to be like winning the lottery."

Brett and the Herrans take anti-rejection medications every day to ensure that their bodies accept their new kidneys. "It's scary sometimes when you get a pain," Brett said. "You're like, 'What's that from? What did I do?' And you take Tylenol, and it's like, 'OK, it went away, so that was fine.' It's scary."

All the teens are faithful about taking their medicine, although Brett explained that some people avoid the anti-rejection drugs because of the side effects, which include weight gain and puffy cheeks.

"A lot of people don't like the side effects, and they'll just stop taking the medication altogether, which in some aspects really defeats the purpose of the transplant," he said.

Taking the medicine is a small price to pay for getting a new life, they agree.

Brett said his transplants have made him cherish life. "I have one friend who runs track at my high school, and it seems like she comes in every day with some kind of problem, and I'm like, 'What's the big deal?' "

"The rest of your life you will be on medicine, but life does not end," Nick said. "I know a lady who's gotten her second heart, and she is still living after 45 years now. She's come 45 years with two hearts and still is doing well."

Erica said she feels so normal now that "I just sort of forget about the transplant."

While transplant recipients such as Brett, Nick and Erica are discouraged from playing contact sports such as football, other forms of exercise are encouraged. Nick and Erica are swimmers and have attended several U.S. and World Transplant Games. "It's like the regular Olympics," Nick explained. "People can only participate in them (if they) are transplant recipients."

Together, they have won dozens of bronze, silver and gold medals in swimming events. "It's just beautiful to know that you are a recipient and (that) everybody else who is competing with you has been through the same thing," Nick said.

"It's a family. You go back every year, and there's people you know from around the country. . . . At closing ceremonies, I always come down with tears," he continued.

These youths agree that awareness of the need for organs is a critical issue. Nick is a Boy Scout and has made raising awareness the focus of his Eagle Scout proj ect. "In the Scout organization, kids just love what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go around and ask people to sign to donate -- not make them, but ask them to sign donor cards," he said.

Brett would like to see an increase in living donors. "Since you can donate part of your liver and you can donate a kidney while living, having businesses doing incentives for people who decide to donate" encourages donations, too, he said.

Almost everyone has the potential to be an organ donor, although "you also need to talk with your family in case some of them don't want it," Erica said.

"When you're getting your driver's license for the first time or when you're renewing it, think about it when they ask you if you want to be a donor. It doesn't mean just giving away your organs; you're giving somebody another life," Nick said.

ASSISTANT EDITOR: Myra Bledsoe, 16.

REPORTERS: Peter Cowden, 12; Julie McDowell, 13; and Lauren Slemenda, 12.