BHS grad fights kidney battle
Organ transplant fails, putting Kelsey Crider's life on holdBy Yu Miao, For the Camera
Sunday, February 17, 2008
At Boulder High School's graduation last June, Kelsey Crider proudly wore her cap, gown and a pair of big, white sunglasses.
Knowing she would soon attend Fort Lewis College in Durango to pursue her dream of being a photographer, Crider was confident and carefree.
Two weeks after graduation, though, she was diagnosed with medullary cystic kidney disease, a hereditary disorder in both kidneys. Doctors at several hospitals determined that Crider's kidneys functioned at only 12 percent -- and that a transplant was needed.
Crider and her family were dumbfounded. She had never suffered any previous symptoms.
"My first reaction to all this was that it's not the hugest deal," said Crider, 18, "because I was focusing on college."
But she soon found out that she had to give up her plan to attend college in the fall. In September, she started dialysis treatment, a four-hour blood cleansing procedure that had to be done three times a week. Meanwhile, the family started looking for a possible donor.
Crider's father, Steve Crider, was a match. The transplant surgery was done at the University Hospital in Denver on Oct. 31.
Steve Crider recovered quickly and was released from the hospital three days after the surgery.
But Kelsey Crider's body soon began to reject the new organ. She went through a second surgery to adjust the position of the kidney, and doctors gave her medication to fight the rejection. She ended up staying in the hospital for most of November and the first part of December. She got pneumonia twice and had to go into the intensive-care unit for 24-hour-watch.
"The first time in the ICU, I was up the whole night," Kelsey said. "I was really sick, and I had the highest fever. They had to chill down the room to freezing cold. I was so nauseous, and I couldn't breathe."
Her mother said she was "scared to death" for Kelsey.
"I couldn't help," Debbie Crider said. "That was the hardest."
An ultrasound later determined there was no blood flow to and from the new kidney, and it had to be removed.
On Dec. 3, a third surgery took the kidney out of Kelsey's body. After she fell asleep that night, her mother went into the bathroom and began to weep.
"I couldn't stop it. I asked myself, 'Why her?' 'Why Kelsey?' 'Why didn't this work?'"
Kelsey also asked those questions to herself at the beginning, but then she stopped, not wanting to be a victim anymore.
"You can't keep asking, 'Why? Why? Why?' Because no one is going to answer," she said.
Kelsey is now recovering from her surgeries at home. She is again doing dialysis three days a week.
Her name is on the waiting list of the United Network for Organ Sharing.
There are more than 98,000 candidates nationwide who are waiting for an organ, according to the nonprofit's Web site, and it usually takes years to be matched with a kidney from the newly deceased.
"We don't want to wait," Debbie Crider said. "Kelsey is ready to start her life. She wants to go to college."
The family is seeking a living donor -- more than 1,000 e-mails have been sent to friends, associates and business contacts -- but responses are slim.
"I think people don't have enough information on what this is all about," Steve Crider said. "They don't know people can do very well with one kidney."
Debbie Crider's company, Inverness Medical-BioStar Inc., has set up an account for those who are interested in giving financial help to the family. Further questions can be sent to kcriderkidneydonation@yahoo.com.
Visit the following Web sites for more information on kidney transplants and donation:
www.transplantliving.orgwww.optn.orgwww.uch.edu/transplantwww.paireddonation.orghttp://dailycamera.com/news/2008/feb/17/bhs-grad-fights-kidney-battle/
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