The Gift of Life
Laurie Cavanaugh, 48, wife of ,
Her donor is OSU offensive coordinator , 34. Both are doing well.
“First of all, the OHSU folks have been fabulous to us,” said. “They have kept our family and the Langsdorfs updated every step of the way, and we could have not hoped for a better experience and professionalism from the staff here.”
The transplant was performed to treat Laurie’s autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, an inherited disorder that affects approximately 1 in 1,000 people. Patients with this disease suffer progressive kidney failure, usually in mid to late life. In Laurie’s case, her kidneys were enlarged.
“The average kidney is the size of a fist; her kidneys were the size of two heads,” said John Barry, M.D., Laurie’s transplant surgeon and longtime director of the OHSU Kidney Transplant Program. “The surgery took about six hours, and her new kidney began working within minutes.”
Michael Conlin, M.D., associate professor of surgery (urologic surgery), OHSU School of Medicine, removed Langsdorf’s kidney. Langsdorf was identified as being a donor match through tests with 18 individuals.
“When you work as closely as a coaching staff does, you develop some really deep and solid friendships -- I guess you could say this is the ultimate in friendship,” said.
Both Langsdorf and are in their third years on the coaching staff, with Langsdorf serving as the offensive coordinator and Cavanaugh as the offensive line coach.
“I want to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers during this time,” said. “The outreach from people has been tremendous. We are looking forward to returning home.”
OHSU is home to one of the world’s oldest transplant programs, performing the first one in 1959. There have been nearly 3,800 successful kidney transplants at the
Send your thoughts and best wishes to the Cavanaughs and Langsdorfs at
