Posted Oct 31, 2008; 4:00 AM
ArtsBlock volunteer Cindy Kainz gets 'a whole new life' with kidney transplantBy Keith Uhlig
Wausau Daily Herald
Volunteering at Wausau's Grand Theater saved Cindy Kainz's life.
The 50-year-old Wausau woman had been suffering from a progressive kidney ailment, undergoing dialysis treatments three times a week. Things weren't looking good. Cindy was tired, ill and starting to slip downward.
But in the fall of 2007, she discovered she qualified for a transplant, and was put on a list of people waiting to undergo the procedure.
Cindy, who volunteers as a bartender in the Great Hall on ArtsBlock, was telling some of the folks at ArtsBlock about being put on the list. Merry Little, 56, the general manager of the Performing Arts Foundation, the organization that manages ArtsBlock, happened to overhear Cindy's conversation.
Immediately Merry knew she would donate one of her kidneys to Cindy. It wasn't something she had to think about.
"My father died of congestive heart failure about 15 years go," Merry said. "And we asked the doctor, 'what can we do?' The surgeon said, 'You can sign your donor cards.'"
Her father could have been saved had a heart been available for transplant, and Merry was thinking about him when she made the offer.
Merry and Cindy quickly found that their kidneys matched, and made plans for transplant surgery.
The transplant was done on July 30, and both women have recovered nicely.
Cindy's kidney failure is the result of an enlarged appendix, she said, and it is the third in a series of serious physical ailments. A disk in her back ruptured in 1982, which has resulted in numbness in her leg. In 1986, she discovered she had a serious case of carpal tunnel syndrome, and nerve damage has meant she can't use her right arm.
Cindy takes those setbacks in stride, relying on her faith to help bolster her spirits. "There's a bigger plan," she said. "There are reasons these things happen."
Although she's unable to work, she decided to volunteer at the Grand Theater about six years ago, mostly as a way to become as productive as possible. The folks there make sure she's not overdoing it. She's an outgoing person, and her ability to connect with people works well as a bartender.
As she has recovered, she has put her volunteer work on hold. But tonight Cindy will return to the Great Hall for the ArtsBlock Halloween party.
"I feel like I'm coming home," Cindy said. "I feel like it's a whole new life again. I feel like I can live."
Keith Uhlig is a writer for the Wausau Daily Herald. He can be reached at 845-0651 or kuhlig@wdhprint.com.
http://www.wisinfo.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008810310377
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