SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Valen Keefer is a double transplant patient. At 10-years-old she found out she had Polycystic Kidney Disease.
"My life has been doubled because of the miracle of transplantation with a kidney transplant at 19 and liver transplant three years ago,” Keefer said.
Keefer is now a patient advocate. She recently joined a Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 study to better help those in her situation. The study found transplant patients cannot consider themselves immune to the virus even after two doses.
“The vaccine was everyone’s hope for hopefully a brighter future and a return back to some kind of normalcy and then to learn this was just really concerning because the transplant community we’ve been through so much and we have this value and appreciation for life and we don’t want to risk anything to jeopardize our health that we’ve been gifted,” she said.
“Only half of transplant patients show any antibodies at all and even among those who show antibodies, the overall level of antibodies is lower than in people with normal immune systems,” Johns Hopkins University Transplant Surgeon Dr. Dorry Segev said. “A vaccinated transplant patient should only follow what the CDC says is safe for an unvaccinated non-transplant patient.”
Segev said transplant patients still need to get vaccinated. He said some antibodies are better than none. He also said patients need to make sure those who are around them get their vaccines.
“To transplant patients out there, don’t lose hope we are working literally day and night to figure this out,” Segev said “We will figure it out, life will go back to normal eventually. It’s just going to take some more time.”
He said researchers and organizations are teaming up to find the solution which might include a third dose for transplant patients.
Keefer said she trusts the science and is staying optimistic.
“I’m the healthiest I’ve been in years and yet stuck at home and want to live life to the fullest, and the transplant community deserves that as much as anybody else.”
