Marine goes under the knife to give brother another lease on life

[unhappycamper]

1st Lt. Austin Bonner, left, 30, sits with his brother Cameron, 31, who was diagnosed with lupus about 13 years ago. Recently, the Marine with Marine Air Support Squadron 2 donated his left kidney to Cameron.


Marine goes under the knife to give brother another lease on life
By Cindy Fisher, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Monday, February 18, 2008

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, Okinawa — He had two of them, so when his older brother needed one, 1st Lt. Austin Bonner didn’t have to think twice about giving up a kidney.

The Marine Air Support Squadron 2 air traffic officer knew he would donate the organ when he tested as a match for his brother in 2000.

Bonner’s brother, Cameron, 31, was diagnosed with an acute type of lupus about 13 years ago.

Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s immune system attacks itself because it cannot distinguish between its own body and foreign cells, according to the Lupus Foundation of America. The disease affects “the skin, joints, heart, lungs, blood, kidneys and brain,” according to the foundation Web site.

Bonner, 30, from Pierce, Idaho, said that of his 13 siblings, Cameron was the one he was closest to growing up because they were only a year apart in age.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=52568