`It's a great thing' to do - Woman donating kidney to longtime friend

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`It's a great thing' to do - Woman donating kidney to longtime friend
Wednesday, July 23, 2008

BY JEFF BARR

jbarr@kalamazoogazette.com

388-8581

KALAMAZOO -- An inescapable ``inner feeling'' 10 years ago convinced Gy Ludvig that one day she would be called upon to donate a kidney to her friend.

That day is almost upon her.

On Thursday, Ludvig, 38, a handywoman and part-time pastor and counselor from Kalamazoo, will give her right kidney to longtime friend Karen Knapp, 54, of Portage. The surgeries at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor come a decade after Ludvig discovered that Knapp was stricken with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

``When Karen told me in 1998 that she was sick, I was surprised because she looked perfectly healthy to me,'' Ludvig said. ``I remember it clearly. It was in my kitchen, and I had a strong feeling then and there that if she needed a transplant one day that I would be a perfect match.

``I knew that I would have a decision to make.''

Knapp, who works at the Ninth Street Post Office in the Kalamazoo area, wasn't sure what to think of Ludvig's immediate certainty that she would be a donor match if Knapp ever needed one. But it was a moment she never forgot.

``At first I was like, `OK, whatever, Gy,''' Knapp said.

``But then two years ago, as my kidneys continued to get worse, I went on the donor list and I called Gy to ask her if the offer still stood.''

Ludvig assured her friend that she would be willing to undergo the surgery. Ludvig was tested to see if she was a match, and ``it was no surprise at all,'' she said, when doctors said she was qualified as a donor. It was a confirmation of that long-ago ``inner feeling.''

Ludvig views that feeling as a spiritual experience.

``I believe we are all spiritual beings, and we are just living the human portion of our spirituality on Earth, which really is a small part of our spiritual existence,'' she said. ``We are all capable of tapping into our spirituality if we are aware of it and open to it, but so often we get held back by focusing on the human.

``I am guilty of it myself. Often I don't listen to inner feelings that point me in a certain direction. In fact, it was out-of-the-ordinary to listen when I felt I would be a donor for Karen.''

The spirituality of the experience isn't surprising to those who know the Hungarian minister who lived under the brutal regime of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania before emigrating to the United States in 1993 -- nearly four years after Ceausescu's overthrow and execution.

She was a minister in the Hungarian Reformed Church in Kalamazoo from 1988 to 1989 before leaving the church to later become a part of Kalamazoo's Unity Church, which focuses less on doctrine and more on the oneness of all people. Today, she serves as a regular guest speaker at Unity and is seeking ordination in that church.

Since finding out that Ludvig was a match, Knapp's kidney function has degenerated to the point that she undergoes dialysis three times a week. Her illness causes fluid-filled cysts on kidneys to grow and results in kidney failure in 50 percent of those stricken.

``Dialysis is not a long-term method to sustain life. It just gets you through the week,'' Knapp said. ``Surgery is the only option.''

Ludvig will stay in the hospital two to three days and faces a recovery of four to six weeks. Knapp could be in the hospital up to five days, and her recovery period is expected to last as long as eight weeks.

Knapp realizes how lucky she is to receive a kidney before her situation becomes deadly. Of the 91,376 people in the United States waiting for kidneys last year, 4,276 died.

``I am fortunate, I know this, but I view this as an extension of my human life, not necessarily a life-saving experience,'' Knapp said.

``I feel a nudge from my mother, Elaine Knapp, who died at 62 after being on dialysis for nine years. This is far more than a human-life experience. There is a lot of spirituality going on here.''

Ludvig expressed gratitude at being able to take part in such a meaningful experience.

``I am fortunate, too,'' she said. ``It's a great thing to be able to do for someone.

``And it's even better to know that I'm doing it more out of love than out of fear.''

Kidney transplant facts

v About 14,000 kidney transplants are performed each year in the United States. Just over one-third of transplanted kidneys are from living donors.

v Every year, more than 3,000 people die while waiting for a kidney transplant.

v Of the 91,376 people waiting for kidneys last year, 4,276 died.

v The one-year survival rate for kidney-transplant recipients is about 95 percent.

v About 500 Americans have volunteered to donate a kidney to a stranger -- called altruistic donation -- since 1999. There were 96 such donations in 2007, compared to just five in 1999.

v Increasingly, kidney patients are going to the Internet to solicit kidneys -- a controversial practice. Doctors say potential donors may not be aware of the risks when they volunteer. Also, this circumvents the objectivity and fairness employed by the conventional system -- the national transplant list.

v For more information about autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, go online to

www.pkdcure.org.

Sources: United Network for Organ Sharing and the National Kidney Foundation

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