State & Local
Page 2 The Battalion Monday, April i;
Mon
——
Sp-
Siblings share more than blood
Partial organ donation helps sister
conquer diabetes, lead normal life
By Lisa Barton
Special to The Battalion
Karen Prihoda, a technician in
the Department of Soil and Crop
Sciences, is described by her boss
as "dedicated."
That is because Prihoda donat
ed part of her pancreas to her sis
ter, Sharon Caldwell of Brenham,
almost three years ago in an effort
to save her from diabetes.
"I would do it again tomorrow
— if she developed something
wrong with her kidney, I would
give her one tomorrow," Prihoda
said.
In May 1989, Caldwell, a dia
betic and bookkeeper at the Bren
ham Clinic, read about partial
pancreatic transplants being done
at the University of Minnesota.
She decided to contact the doctors
there, although she had a hard
time deciding whether to go.
"She didn't want to jeopardize
my life because we knew that it
was very dangerous for the
donor," Prihoda said. "It is a
much harder surgery for the
donor than for the recipient."
Because part of her body was
was taken away, Prihoda said she
had to learn to live with only a
portion of her pancreas.
"The surgery is like robbing the
donor," she said. "And because
the (organ) is hard to get to, some
times they break your ribs to do
it."
Before the transplant, Caldwell
was in the hospital every three to
four months with diabetic prob
lems — infections, vomiting, etc.
Caldwell showed Prihoda the
article about the partial transplant.
"We're going to go do this,"
Prihoda said without being asked
if she would.
Prihoda is not only dedicated
to her sister, but also to her work
at Texas A&M.
"Karen is one of the most dedi
cated employees Texas A&M has,
and is handling responsibilities
beyond the levels of the training
she brought to the position," said
Dr. Fred Miller, professor and
sorghum breeder in soil and crop
sciences.
"Karen is what I would hope
we all could aspire toward."
In Minnesota, two days prior to
her surgery, Caldwell told her sis
ter it was not too late to board a
plane (and get out of there).
"She just said no way," Cald
well said.
In October 1989, doctors John
Najarian and David Sutherland,
pioneers of kidney transplants for
diabetes patients, performed the
surgeries on Prihoda and Cald
well, respectively.
The surgery was a success for
both women. However, while
Caldwell was ready to return to
work after six weeks, Prihoda was
sick for months after the trans
plant.
The day after Thanksgiving,
Prihoda was sent back to Min
nesota and admitted to the hospi
tal. She stayed until Dec. 22, be
cause of an infection that devel
oped near her pancreas.
"I had a pseudocyst, which is a
pocket of blood — an infection —
that had developed down by my
pancreas," she said. "They insert
ed a tube to drain the cyst that I
See Sisters/Page 3
Battalion places 3rd
in state press contest
The Battalion won 16 awards — including five for first place —
at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association annual conference
this past weekend.
The Battalion took third place overall in the Division I Newspa
per Sweepstakes, competing with other daily college newspapers
with large circulations. The Shorthorn of University of Texas-Ar
lington won first place and The Ranger of San Antonio College
placed second in the sweepstakes.
In individual categories. The Battalion won five first-place, two
second-place and six third-place awards, and three honorable
mentions.
First Place:
Mack Harrison — On-site Print: Newswriting
Steve O’Brien — Division I Newspaper Sports Feature
Stacy Feducia — Division I Newspaper Humor Column
Jay Janner — Division I Newspaper Picture Story
Doug Pils, Scott Wudel, Troy Hall and Anne Woods — Division I
Newspaper Sports Page Design
Second Place:
Karl Stolleis — On-site Photo: News/Action
Doug Pils and Bingo Barnes — Division I Newspaper Sports Page
Design
Third Place:
Chris Vaughn — Division I Newspaper News Story
Doug Pils — Division I Newspaper Series
Scott Wudel — Division I Newspaper Sports News Story
Karl Stolleis — Division I Newspaper Sports Feature Photo
Karl Stolleis — Division I Newspaper Sports Action Photo
Doug Pils, Todd Stone, Sean Frerking, Holly Becka and Karl
Stolleis — Division I Newspaper Special Edition
Honorable Mention:
Tanya Williams — Division I Newspaper General Column
Karl Stolleis—Division I Newspaper News Photo
Carrie Cavalier— Division I Newspaper Opinion Page Design
Dolphin death count
rises in Texas waters
GALVESTON (AP) - Nearly
80 Atlantic bottle-nose dolphins
have died in Calhoun and
Aransas counties' bays since
March 1, setting a death rate ma
rine scientists say is unprecedent
ed in the area.
Gina Barron, coordinator of the
Texas Marine Mammal Stranding
Network, said National Marine
Fisheries experts are expected to
arrive in Texas this week to help
investigate the dolphin deaths.
Sixty dead dolphins were
found in March and 19 have been
reported so far this month, she
said.
"It's major. Historically, we've
never had an event like this since
the Stranding Network was
founded in 1980," Barron said.
"The majority of the strandings
occur on Gulf beaches. Now we're
seeing a lot of animals dying in
this bay system and we don't
know why yet."
Scientists also are alarmed that
the deaths are occurring in bays
insteacj of along the outer edges of
barrier islands, Barron said.
The deaths off the coasts of the
two counties are up sharply from
1991.
"In March of last year, we had
only three ... in Calhoun County
and one in Aransas County," Bar
ron said.
"In 1990, which was consid
ered a major die-off year, Calhoun
had three animals dead and
Aransas had only five."
According to the Stranding
Network, 121 bottle-nose dol
phins were stranded along the
Texas coast in all of last year. That
is compared with 199 in 1990.
The surge of deaths in the past
two months has pushed the vol
unteer organization beyond its
limits, Barron said.
"Until the last few days, all
we've been able to do on most of
the animals is document that the
animals were there, take the
length and sex and leave the ani
mal at the site," she said.
Barron said the Texas General
Land Office and Parks and
Wildlife Department have offered
to help investigate the deaths.
Volunteers in the two counties
also have organized to begin tak
ing tissue samples of the dead ani
mals.
She said there are few clues
about what is killing the dolphins,
but some experts speculate that
numerous deaths indicate a prob
lem with the animals' habitat.
"They're in the bay system and
we know that dolphins are high
on the food chain," Barron said.
"We've always talked about
using dolphins as bio-indicators
of the quality of the Gulf. That
could also apply to that bay sys
tem."
The Battalion
USPS 045-360
The Battalion is published daily except Saturday, Sunday, holidays, exam periods, and
when school is not in session during fall and spring semesters; publication is Tuesday
through Friday during the summer session. Second class postage paid at College
Station, TX 77840.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Battalion, 230 Reed McDonald Building,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-1111.
News: The Battalion news department is managed by students at Texas A&M University
in the Division of Student Publications, a unit of the Department of Journalism. Editorial
offices are in 013 Reed McDonald Building. The newsroom phone number is 845-3316.
Fax: 845-2647.
Opinions expressed in The Battalion are those of the editorial board or the contributor,
and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Texas A&M student body, adminis
trators, faculty or the A&M Board of Regents.
Advertising: For campus, local and national display advertising, call 845-2696. For
classified advertising, call 845-0569. Advertising offices are in 015 Reed McDonald and
office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fax: 845-5408.
Subscriptions: Mail subscriptions are $20 per semester, $40 per school year and $50
per full year. To charge by VISA or MasterCard, call 845-2611.
KAMU-FM 90.9
15th
BIRTHDAY
£ BASH!!
April 15, 8:00 PM
Stafford Opera House
106 South Main, Bryan
$5.00 Person to Benefit KAMU-FM 90.9
Tickets Available at the Door or In Advance
at KAMU-TV/FM Studio, Houston at Russell Street
Texas A&M University
For Ticket Information Call 845-5611
I Aggieland
Order your 1993 Aggieland
(yearbook)
during registration.
What: 1993 Aggieland
Where: during registration
How: choose fee option #16
How Much: $25 plus tax
Why: college memories you
don't want to forget
Tuesday balloting to decidt
legislative run-off elections
AUSTIN (AP) — Without any
presidential candidates, election
eering has been pretty quiet the
past month. But voters are return
ing to the polls Tuesday to decide
congressional and legislative
run-off elections.
The balloting will settle nomi
nations for races without outright
winners on March 10. Tuesday's
victors advance to the November
general election.
Heading up the key races are
three congressional runoffs.
In Houston, Democrats will
pick a nominee in the new 29th
District. That district, one of three
new seats awarded Texas after the
1990 Census, widely was regard
ed as one likely to elect a Hispan
ic.
State Sen. Gene Green faces
Ben Reyes, a Houston city council
man. The winner meets Repul
can Clark Kent Ervin,a forir
White House aide, inNovembe
In the Dallas-Fort H'orfAara:
small businessman Phillip Bie/im-
owicz, 42, and SteveMasterson,
30, trust administrator ton law
firm, are running for the
nomination to face Democrati:
Rep. Martin Frost in the redraw:
24th District.
In El Paso, former sportscastr
Chip Taberski faces former com:
judge and businessman Pi
O'Rourke in a Republicanrunof
The winner challenges five-ten:
Democratic Rep. Ron Colemani:
a race likely to be influenced^
Coleman's writing 673 oven
at the House bank.
Three state Senate runoffsffi
being held.
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