[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING ELIZABETH LITTLEFIELDS' SELFLESS ACT

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                        HON. GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 5, 2009

  Ms. GIFFORDS. Madam Speaker, I am honored today to pay tribute to 
Elizabeth Littlefield, a hairdresser from Marana, Arizona. Ms. 
Littlefield has set an inspiring example for all Americans with one 
selfless act--the donation of one of her kidneys. It was not to a loved 
one or longtime friend that Littlefield made this generous donation, 
but to a customer whom she had known only a short time.
  Ms. Littlefield's donated kidney went to Dale Charnick. Not long 
after Ms. Charnick became a customer of Ms. Littlefield's salon in 
2006, both of her kidneys began shutting down. Upon learning of her 
customer's plight, Littlefield made the surprise offer that saved Ms. 
Chanick's life. ``I have two good kidneys,'' Ms. Littlefield said. 
``You can have one of mine.''
  Now, as a result of Ms. Littlefield's donation, Ms. Charnick is on 
the road to a strong recovery. Ms. Littlefield's selfless act reminds 
us in a dramatic way what it means to help a person in need.
  I also want to commend the extraordinary medical skills of the well-
trained health care professionals at Tucson's University Medical Center 
for their role in giving Ms. Charnick's a new lease on life.
  My constituents in Southern Arizona are indeed fortunate to have a 
new team of nationally recognized transplant experts in our community. 
This team includes: abdominal transplant chief Dr. Rainer Gruessner; 
nephrology chief Dr. Bruce Kaplan, who is also a deputy editor of the 
American Journal of Transplantation; vice chief of abdominal 
transplantation Dr. John Renz; Dr. Thomas Boyer, who is director of the 
Arizona Liver Institute; and Dr. Khalid Khan, director of the UA's 
Pediatric Liver and Intestinal Transplantation Program.

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