09/25/2022
This is a hard post to write, but I write it with a hopeful heart.
I have so much to live for that I was absolutely devastated when my kidneys failed in June 2022. I had just spent six months packing up my home and shutting down my cheesecake business to move next door to my grandchildren. I have three energetic, loving grandchildren who I help with 4-H, soccer, gymnastics and homework. But I must say, I think they help me most of all stay young and active!
Thirteen people on the donor transplant list die each day before they can receive a kidney donation. We must find a living donor ourselves soon or I will be one of those regrettable losses. My family immediately applied to donate, but we all suffer from a similar condition that prevents them from being donors. It has been a challenging journey but we remain hopeful that a generous donor will help me spend more precious time with my family!
Read on to learn more about my life and becoming a living kidney donor.
I have lived a life of service, to my family, my country and disabled adults. As a child, I worked shoveling snow for neighbors and on the farm to help support my three siblings and mom. Starting when I was sixteen, I worked in a bakery from midnight to 8am all summer and on weekends during the school year. Then I would go directly to the farm to work there until early dinner time. After I graduated from high school I earned an Associates degree in baking. In 1969, I joined the navy, where I served as a cook (commissary man, second class, E5).
I had always wanted to be a father, and after being in the navy, I volunteered as a Big Brother. I mentored a young boy , taking him on vacation, fishing, and to baseball games. When I married the love of my life in 1989, I gained the daughter I’d always hoped for. She kept me on my toes with supporting her in sports, 4-H, Job’s daughters, school, acting, forensics, debate, choir, band and more! To help her improve in Cross-country, I learned to run and helped her keep pace. I would run ahead of her and hold out my hand for her to catch me. I helped her learn how to be a strong, independent person who can run a chainsaw, waterski, and grow and can her own food. I helped inspire her to dedicate her life to serving others.
While my daughter was growing up, I worked for 25 years taking care of developmentally disabled residents at Central Wisconsin Center in Madison, Wisconsin. My residents’ needs were so great that their families couldn’t care for them in-home and, in many cases, rarely visited them at the center. I looked after their needs and brought humor to brighten their lives. They were like my own children. I fought for their rights and the rights of their caregivers by becoming Vice-President of local Union 634. Throughout this time, I also ran my own business selling arts and crafts and eventually cheesecake to better support my family.
I didn’t know life could be any more full of love until my grandchildren were born and those bundles of joy became the center of my universe! Last year, we closed our business and bought a house right next to our grandchildren. Since then, I’ve been taking the grandkids to school every day, cooking healthy meals for the whole family and supporting the kids in all their activities. I’ve also been supporting my wife through her own health challenges, when our wonderful retirement came into jeopardy in June when my kidneys failed during a biopsy.
Since then, I’ve been on dialysis to stay alive. My energy is draining away with these treatments and I’m missing my grandkids while I’m at the treatment center three times a week for four hours each time. With a kidney transplant, I could live a healthy, energetic life for many years! I am a good candidate for a kidney transplant right now but time is limited and the average wait for a kidney from a deceased donor is the longest wait for people with my blood type. The best option for me is to find a living person who will donate their kidney. A living kidney donation would reach me while I am healthier and extend my life far longer than if I wait (and hope) for a deceased donor.
Asking for help is a hard thing to do, when I’ve dedicated my life to helping others. You might not know a lot about living donation – I know I didn’t before kidney disease affected my life. Understandable, some people are afraid about the surgery and what living with one kidney will mean for them. Here’s some basic information about kidney donation:
• You only need one kidney to live a healthy, long life.
• Most donor surgery is done through tiny incisions (I,e. Laparoscopically)
• The recuperation period is usually fairly quick, generally two weeks
• The cost of your evaluation and surgery will be covered by my insurance. The hospital can give you extensive information on this.
• You will have a separate team of healthcare professionals to evaluate you as a potential living donor. Their job is to help you understand the benefits and risks and to look out for YOUR best interests.
You can learn more about living donation on the IU Transplant Living Donation website or by contacting the IU free, confidential coordinators 800–382-4602 or 317-944-4370. The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) has excellent resources here www.kidney.org/livingdonation. If you want to talk to someone who’s already donated a kidney, NKF can help.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you would like to consider donating a kidney to me, I would be happy to tell you more about my story and explore the process of a living kidney donation with you. you do not even need to be a perfect match with me because of a nation-wide matching system of potential living donors and recipients.
However, I know living donation may not be right for everyone – but you can still help! You can consider being an organ donor after death and also help me by sharing my story with everyone you know. At the very least, I want to bring awareness to kidney disease and living donation. I am hopeful my efforts will help me receive a kidney sooner and encourage others to consider helping the many people on the waitlist before more lives are cut short.
It is against the law to buy or sell organs, including kidneys. If someone contacts you to buy or sell a kidney, please disregard the request.
