Update on the Holland Avenue Boys

PETER ROWE San Diego Union

Organ transplant the latest chapter from

Holland Avenue

Peter Rowe July 28, 2002

As a boy in the Bronx, Jack Abrams had 16 close friends - all living on Holland Avenue, within two blocks. Yet, none of his friends was closer than Howard Fischer. "I lived in Apartment 3H, Howard lived in Apartment 3A," said Abrams, 63. "I never knew his telephone number in all the years we grew up because I never had to call him. "The Holland Avenue Boys became men and moved away, but most did not move apart. Three of the 17 have died; three don't stay in touch. The other 11 gather every two summers for a reunion. They're a talented group. One's a filmmaker. Another, a physicist. Until 10 days ago, Abrams was a practicing radiation oncologist. "Never missed a day of work," he said when we met at Grossmont Hospital's cancer center. But Abrams desperately needed a new kidney. On Wednesday, he got one. From Howard Fischer. More than 50 years ago, these boys joined forces to assemble baseball scrapbooks. "But what we do now," Abrams said, "is our greatest collaboration.

"Bonds and shackles.

For years, patients waiting for a kidney transplant waited for death - the death of a donor or, failing that, their own death. Increasingly, though, kidneys are donated by adults who are alive and healthy, before and after the operation. In 2001, there were 14,149 kidney transplants in the United States. Cadavers supplied 8,201 of those organs, living Americans the other 5,948.Still, more than 51,000 Americans need a kidney today. In California, the average stay on the waiting list is more than three years. "For Jack to wait three to five years for a cadaver, in his condition, well, that was no good," said Fischer, 63, who flew from Manhattan for the operation at Sharp Memorial Hospital. "And I'm in very good shape." As for Abrams' shape - well, allow me to make a confession. Two years ago, I wrote about the Holland Avenue Boys, when Abrams hosted their reunion in San Diego. Focusing on the liberating bonds of friendship, I ignored the physical shackles tormenting Abrams. At the time, this seemed like the right call. After all, Abrams and the other boys didn't dwell on his pain. Now, though, I must note that the doctor has muscular dystrophy as well as the hereditary condition - polycystic kidneys - that destroyed those organs. That latter disease killed his father at age 39, and his mother at 65. "This guy just lives life.

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