Author of 'The Graft' Visits Evergreen Park Library

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — On June 17, 1950, Richard Lawler, MD, performed the first successful kidney transplant at a small Catholic hospital in Evergreen Park, Little Company of Mary Hospital. The patient was Ruth Tucker, a 49-year-old with polycystic kidney disease.

Both of Tucker’s kidneys had been affected, with one no longer functioning and the other functioning at only 10 percent. Her mother and sister had died of PKD. Dialysis was widely available, so her only option was a kidney transplant, according to history on MDLinx.

After five weeks of waiting for a suitable donor, Dr. Lawler finally received one from a patient who died of cirrhosis of the liver. In an era that pre-dated tissue typing and immunosuppressive agents, organ selection for transplants was based on simply finding someone of the same gender, blood type, and of roughly the same age and physical size.

Dr. Lawler’s great nephew, Edmund Lawler, a journalism teacher from Beverly, shares the incredible story of the first human organ transplant in his new book, “The Graft: How a Pioneering Operation Sparked the Modern Age of Organ Transplants.” Dr. Lawler, a urologist, completed a 47-year career at Little Company of Mary in 1979, and “toward the end of his career, he was hailed for what he did,” Edmund Lawler said. In 1970, Dr. Lawler was nominated for a Nobel Prize.

The Evergreen Park Public Library, 9400 S. Troy Ave. welcomes Edmund Lawler on Thursday, Jan. 20, at 6:30 p.m. in-library or via Zoom. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Register on the library’s website if you plan to attend in person or to get the Zoom link.