See you in three months

December 10, 2007
Street Smarts: See you in three months
By Genevieve Bookwalter
Street Smarts columnist

This is my last column for a while.

On Dec. 18, I should receive a kidney transplant from my sister. My last day in the newsroom is Friday. I'll be out up to three months recovering.

I was diagnosed almost four years ago with a disease called IgA Nephropathy. Since then, this disease has clogged my kidney filters with protein deposits and almost completely shut them down.

Kidneys clean your blood, so when the filters gum up, toxins that would normally be removed stay in your body. If the kidneys shut down completely, those toxins can build up to levels that are poisonous and deadly.

As a result, patients with kidney failure usually need dialysis -- commonly, that's where your blood is sucked out, cleaned by a machine and put back in -- or a new kidney.

I'm lucky. My sister, who is barely two years younger than me, is giving me one of her kidneys. Barring any last-minute glitches, the surgery will be done next week at UC San Francisco.

I'm also fortunate because I'm receiving a new kidney so fast.

I was placed on the transplant waiting list on June 12. If my sister had not offered me her kidney, I could have waited four years for a new organ from someone who has died. That's the typical wait time for patients needing kidneys in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.

In California, about 20,000 residents are waiting for new organs; of those, about 15,600 need a kidney, according to data compiled by The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

But in 2006, about 1,400 became so sick that they died before receiving the transplant they needed, according to network statistics.

That's where you come in, dear Street Smarts readers.

In 2006, Donate Life California partnered with the California DMV to allow drivers to sign up to be organ donors when they renew their drivers licenses.

Unlike the pink dot "donor" stickers that drivers previously adhered to their licenses -- and which regularly fell off into their wallets -- this time names are recorded in a registry that hospitals can quickly tap to learn your wishes should the unthinkable occur.

The registration also is legally binding -- relatives cannot override a driver's wishes to be an organ donor once that person signs up.

Since the California registry began, more than 2 million of the state's 23 million registered drivers have signed up to be organ donors. Supporters expect more as drivers come in to renew their licenses, which expire every five years.

So my holiday request to all of you is, as you troll the Internet for gifts, visit www.donatelifecalifornia.org. There you can learn more and sign up to be an organ donor, if you haven't done so already.

My favorite gift this year is coming from my sister. I'm already thinking of all the things I want to do when I don't feel sick anymore.

In a future year, you could grant those wishes for someone else.

Genevieve Bookwalter is the Sentinel's transportation writer. 'Street Smarts' appears Mondays. If you have a transportation question or idea, e-mail streetsmarts@santacruzsentinel.com. Be sure to include a name, city of residence and daytime telephone number.