This journey started in maybe the later part of 2008 or early 2009. My daughter, Stephanie, was diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. We weren’t sure at the time just where to start. We knew that she would be placed on dialysis, which we were dreading, but it was the only recourse for immediate help for her. As you may or may not know, dialysis can bring on other health problems and unfortunately for Stephanie, everything it could do, it did do. There we other medications that she had to take such as prednisone which caused excessive weight gain and in turned caused her to go into congestive heart failure and with that came another set of problems.
Once it was determined she would need a kidney transplant, I immediately stepped up to the plate. I was the first and only family member to be tested. Once the doctors determined I was a good candidate, they needed to determine if I was a match for her. I was a good match but not the ideal match. This meant her body formed various antibodies that would fight my kidney and wouldn’t have the best success rate. We come from a very strong faith family and so we remained faithful in Christ and kept a positive outlook especially after the transplant team introduced us to the possibility of a kidney swap.
We ended up participating in the first six-person kidney exchange in the Carolinas through Vidant Health. The surgery took place on December 13, 2011. My kidney ended up going to Joseph Kalinowski of Greenville. Stephanie received her kidney from James Collins in Durham. James’ mother, Lynnette, was also one of the three recipients that day.
Before my daughter’s medical situation, I hadn’t ever considered being an organ and tissue donor. This experience has given our entire family a whole new prospective on being organ and tissue donors.
Before the donation, I felt great physically. Emotionally, I felt so blessed to be able to make life better for not only my daughter but for someone else. The doctor’s told me that it is perfectly normal to be nervous but oddly enough I wasn’t nervous at all. It was as if a calming peace came over me and I just knew I was going to be just fine.
Before her transplant, Stephanie wasn’t feeling as well as I physically & emotionally she was so excited because she too felt very positive about the surgery and I guess she thought feeling any better than she had felt in the past two years or so would be an improvement.
After the transplant I was sick for some time from the anesthesia. The only problem I’ve had is that my energy levels dropped a lot. As for my daughter, let’s just say her feet never hit the ground. She almost immediately began to look like herself, and she was so full of life and an endless energy. Stephanie is the mother of my two beautiful granddaughters: one is in middle school and the other in elementary school. They both keep her very busy. She herself is a full-time student studying criminal justice.
I work full time with Warren County Board of Education of which I’ve been employed for 22 years. My extended work family was very supportive through this whole process. I don’t know what I would have done without them and our family.
As you’ve already discovered, we the 3 donors and 3 recipients finally met each other and there are no words that can describe the love, respect and admiration we feel for each other as well as the entire transplant team at Vidant Health. We are all bonded for life.