Winning in Game of Life

In the spring of 1992, Gianna Marie Laiola was fighting a rare kidney disorder that was slowly sapping her strength and dashing all her hopes.

Her kidneys were failing fast and she had to undergo daily dialysis treatment. Her appetite was gone and she constantly felt tired.

Today, Gianna, 17, is a star high school athlete, a straight “A” student and her dreams have been restored.

Her life made a remarkable turnaround four years ago this month when she was given a kidney transplant. She was born with Alport’s syndrome, usually a hereditary kidney disorder. In her case, however, she was diagnosed with the disease at 5 months even though her family has no history of the problem.

Her condition didn’t require much medical attention until she turned 12.

Alport’s disease causes problems with red blood cells and proteins and eventually suppresses the organs’ ability to filter impurities.

Gianna’s kidneys rapidly began to deteriorate and fail in 1992, causing her blood pressure to rise and making her feel listless.

“I remember being tired and sleeping all the time and not having much of an appetite,” she recalled. “I was just feeling overall lousy.”

She had to be put on dialysis, an artificial purification of the blood done intravenously. She underwent the treatment 10 hours a night, six days a week for five months without complaint, while doctors ran tests to determined whether she was a good candidate for a kidney transplant, said Gianna’s parents, Dennis and Karen Laiola.

“She’s my hero,” Karen Laiola said of her daughter. “I don’t think I would have handled her [ordeal] the same way. She had a lot of faith and believed that something better was going to happen.”

Three weeks after she was accepted to become a transplant recipient, a 40-year-old woman, whose kidney matched better than the kidneys of Gianna’s parents, became her donor.

She now has her donor’s kidney and her own, which were not removed even though they no longer work. Only one healthy kidney is needed to live.

The Laiolas, of Anaheim, were told that Gianna’s donor had died but no details about her death or her family were released.

“I would love to actually thank my donor’s family personally,” Gianna said. “The transplant changed my life and it means a lot to me.”

Since the operation, Gianna, a junior at Rosary High School in Fullerton, has set the school’s record on the 400-meter run, was named most valuable player on her varsity track team, maintains a 4.6 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale and is a volunteer for charitable organizations.

“I consider myself totally normal . . . and lucky,” said Gianna. “The transplant changed my life. I’m always aware of my condition because I have to take my [blood pressure and anti-transplant rejection] pills but without it, I can’t see myself doing all the stuff I’m doing.”

Her goal is to become a doctor, a microbiologist or a research scientist to help bring an end to kidney diseases.

“I’m considering research because I would love to find a cure for kidney diseases, but finding something that would help wipe out any disease would be excellent,” she said.

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Gianna’s doctor, Robert B. Ettenger, who oversaw her transplant and has been monitoring her progress, said he is impressed with his her exuberance.

“It’s fairly remarkable for any kid to be an honor student and a three-letter athlete, but in Gianna’s case, it’s incredibly remarkable and that’s an understatement,” said Ettenger, who is a professor of pediatrics at UCLA and director of pediatric kidney transplants at the university’s medical center.

According to the American Medical Assn., one-third to one-half of all patients with kidney failure are suitable for transplant operations and many of them have to wait years for a matching donor.

As of this week, the United Network for Organ Sharing, an organization which matches organ donors and recipients and keeps transplant statistics nationwide, said that more than 35,000 people are on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.

UNOS also reported that 11,816 people received new kidneys and another 220,000 to 250,000 people were on dialysis in 1995.

Often, people don’t equate the kinds of accomplishments that Gianna has achieved with someone who has been sick, said Simi Singer, UCLA Medical Center’s transplant program spokeswoman.

“People have a lot of misconceptions about those with illnesses and organ transplants,” she said. “Then someone like Gianna proves that you can live a normal life and have aspirations and hopes and fulfill them.”

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For now, Gianna is playing soccer with her undefeated team and is warming up for track season.

Her coach, Dreux Valenti, said he was concerned about her when he found out last year that she was an organ recipient.

“I was a little worried, but her ability is amazing,” he said, boasting about the 400-meter run she completed in 62.1 seconds that broke the school record and the Goldenwest League record. “She doesn’t let anything hold her back in anything she does and she never complains. . . . If I had a team full of Giannas, I would have state champions.”