Retired Boca Raton veterinarian receives kidney from North Carolina woman

Retired Boca Raton veterinarian receives kidney from North Carolina woman

Retired veterinarian from Boca Raton receives vital organ from a new friend

By Tina Shah
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted June 25 2007

Retired Boca Raton veterinarian Sam Leder and Mollie Kinsey, a North Carolina mother of two, were strangers until last fall. Since then, the 69-year-old South Floridian and 32-year-old Cashiers, N.C., native have become fast friends.

The reason: Kinsey gave Leder something for which he had been waiting about a year: a kidney.

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"This is not like giving a pint of blood, not even like bone marrow," said Leder's wife, Rhonnie, when they met with Kinsey last week at the University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Medical Center, where the transplant was performed. "It is giving a part of yourself to someone else."

The pair said they hope their experience will encourage others to donate organs. From January to March 2007, there were 6,797 organ transplants performed in the United States and 503 in Florida. But organ transplant experts say there is a great need for more donors to come forward.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the list, 96,801 Americansarewaiting for an organ transplant, 72,184 for a kidney. In Florida, the kidney transplant list includes 2,731 people, followed by those waiting for liver and lung transplants – 430 and 124, respectively.

Experts say it can take as long as three years for a recipient to find a kidney match, which is based on blood and tissue type.

The first hint that Leder needed a kidney transplant came in June 2005, when he and his wife, Rhonnie, were celebrating their son's 30th birthday in Cashiers, where they have had a summer home for the past 30 years. Leder was feeling unusually tired, but doctors could not pinpoint the reason. After an intestinal surgery failed in July 2005, complications developed. A month later, Leder's kidneys failed.

No one in Leder's family had an O positive blood type, the appropriate match for Sam. So Rhonnie Leder called community organizations, agencies and even sent New Year's greeting cards to several dozen people asking for help. No one came forward.

"I just didn't know where to turn to find a kidney for him," Rhonnie Leder said.

When Rhonnie Leder called the local Cashiers newspaper, Crossroads Chronicle, an employee suggested writing a letter to the editor. Kinsey was on the road with her husband when she read the letter.

"It just laid on my heart," Kinsey said about the letter. She called the Leders. She turned out to be a match.

From that day until the seven-hour surgery was performed on June 13, Kinsey was questioned about her family history and health; took tests, including ultrasounds, PAP smears and full body physicals; and was counseled on the risks of being a donor and how to take care of herself after the surgery.

After Kinsey was approved and the surgery was scheduled, Kinsey and her family flew to Florida. As Kinsey prepared at the hospital, she said she was "at ease, at peace."

"I just wanted someone to come and tell me Sam is better," Kinsey said.

After the kidney transplant, Leder said he felt rejuvenated and put up his two thumbs to convey that to his family.

Leder was released from the hospital on June 20, and he is not taking any pain medication. He is glad he doesn't have to have any more large dialysis needles pushed through his left arm and can't wait to eat a sweet potato from Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach. Patients on dialysis have a diet restricted to foods low in sodium, potassium and phosphorus.

Kinsey has minor abdominal pain and will be fully recovered in about six weeks doctors say.

"I want to inspire others to know that because of the technology today and the doctors' help, you can survive on one kidney," she saidLeder cannot leave town for about three months. But come September, he plans to go to Cashiers and celebrate with Mollie and her family.

Leder's new life will keep him busy. He works as a real estate agent and shoots photos for a hobby. He also has a new job.

"I have a full-time job of taking care of my kidney, who I call Ms. Mollie," he said.

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