Transplant gives woman her old life backFebruary 6, 2009 12:35 am
By CATHY DYSON
Elizabeth Lee tried to keep going, even as her body deteriorated.
The King George County woman had never been the kind of person to sit still. As she got weaker from kidney failure, she thought about the history books she'd write, the activities she'd enjoy with her grandchildren and the trips she'd take with her husband one day.
"Then you wake up and realize there is no 'one day' coming," she said. "For a while, I began to think, 'This is probably my last Christmas' or 'This is probably my last Easter.'"
Lee's mind-set is much different these days.
Six months after she got a new kidney--donated by a woman she hardly knew--the 63-year-old has her life back.
Every Thursday finds her at the King George Museum and Research Center, a hole in the wall packed with old photos and documents. Lee bubbles with plans to compile lists of Civil War soldiers and slaves.
Her holidays were jam-packed. She had 22 people over for Christmas dinner, and for the first time in years had the energy to bake cookies and send out cards.
On New Year's Eve, six of her eight grandchildren watched the ball drop with her.
"I can't say I wasn't tired after each event, but it was very satisfying to prop my feet up afterwards and enjoy the moment," she wrote in her journal on the CaringBridge Web site.
IN NEED OF A DONOR
Lee watched her mother suffer through years of kidney failure. Lee never got to the point that she needed dialysis, as her mother did. Her condition--thin basement membrane disease--gradually took away her strength and energy, and she was put on the list for a transplant.
Meanwhile, Kathy Maples, another King George resident, was hearing a lot about kidney failure.
Maples is postmaster at Sealston Post Office and had several conversations with customers about dialysis, a procedure that removes toxins from the blood after the kidneys fail.
Maples and her husband, Butch, started going to Shiloh Baptist Church in King George in summer 2007 after they tried several other churches.
A few months later, Pastor Todd Kube mentioned that Lee needed a kidney. He wondered if someone from the congregation might be a donor.
"Right away, I said, 'That's me,'" Maples said.
As soon as Maples got home from church that morning, she researched kidney transplants.
On Nov. 14, 2007--her 51st birthday--she called the Virginia Transplant Center at Henrico Doctors' Hospital near Richmond.
She wasn't going to tell anyone about her plans to be tested. When her husband saw her doing research, he asked why she wanted to be a donor.
"This is what I'm supposed to do," she said. "I knew that if it wasn't meant to be, I wouldn't match."
'ARE YOU SERIOUS?'
Maples went to the transplant center in November, believing she'd give blood, answer a few questions, then wait to see if she matched.
Instead, she started making monthly treks to Richmond. She had every test imaginable to make sure she was healthy, then had consultations with nurses, surgeons, psychologists and others.
Meanwhile, Lee was getting sicker. She didn't attend church as often, but her husband, Kenneth, did.
It always seemed like he and the Mapleses ended up near each other after services. Butch Maples saw how distraught Kenneth Lee looked. He imagined himself in the same situation--and hoped someone would do for his wife what she wanted to do for Lee.
When Kathy Maples finally was cleared for surgery in May 2008, she called Lee and arranged a visit.
Lee looked a little surprised when Maples asked if she had a calendar and what she was doing on July 9. Lee was even more surprised when Maples said that was the day she would give her a kidney.
"Are you serious?" was about all Lee could say.
'ALL HERE FOR A REASON'
Maples had no complications from the surgery, except the normal side effect--that food tasted strange for a few weeks. Within a month, she was back to normal.
Lee's comeback was a little tougher because her body had to accept a foreign object. Her immune system has been compromised because of the drugs she takes to avoid rejecting the kidney, and she has to be vigilant about avoiding germs.
Still, she's had a recovery that's almost event-free.
"The doctors had said that I wouldn't realize, until after the transplant, how bad I really felt," she said. "I woke up in recovery, not even fully awake, and I could already tell the difference."
She started walking soon after she came home. She joined the YMCA. She went back to the museum and spent time with like-minded women who jokingly call themselves the "Hysterics."
"You can't hold her back. She's like a herd of horses going now," said Jean Moore Graham, a fellow King George Historical Society member. "She's like a new Elizabeth, a stronger, more energetic one."
Lee and Maples e-mail each other almost daily. Both are at a similar point in their lives as they wonder what comes next.
Lee looks forward to becoming involved with church again. Maples will wait for the same divine direction that led her to Shiloh--and to Lee.
"I think we're all here for a reason," Maples said. "We just have to pray about what that reason is, and then listen."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
SOME GOOD NEWS is an occasional series that celebrates cheerful or inspiring news from our community.
A LIVING GIFT
Kathy Maples decided to go public with her story of organ donation for one reason.
She wanted others to know "you don't have to wait until you die" to donate.
Maples, a 52-year-old King George County resident, gave a kidney to fellow church member Elizabeth Lee. Their surgeries were performed at the Virginia Transplant Center of Henrico Doctors' Hospital near Richmond. All of Maples' expenses were paid by Lee's insurance.
Across the nation, there were 23,288 transplants last year. Fewer than one-fourth involved living donors, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/022009/02062009/442790
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