Local Mother's Year-Long Quest for New Kidney Ends in Success

Reporter: Andrew Del Greco

Local Mother's Year-Long Quest for New Kidney Ends in Success

Posted: Sep 1, 2008 08:30 PM

Last year we started following the story of one woman's struggle with kidney disease, and her quest to find a kidney donor to save her life. That story now has the happiest of endings.

Whether you see this story as one about hope, even amid desperation, or one about life-saving acts and life-long connections, no matter what you may take away, there are many lessons here. For the past year, we've been following the life of Natalie Dick-Peddie and her family.

Natalie Dick-Peddie, just had kidney transplant: "A total rollercoaster of emotions, it's been crazy."

Lauren, age 2, October 2007: "I want my daddy."

We watched as then two-year-old Lauren wished her father home, back from the war zone of Iraq. And we listened as Natalie spoke of raising her children, alone, slowly but surely suffering from kidney disease.

Natalie, in October, 2007: "I feel tired 24 hours a day, I have two small children, it's a chore just to get up and down the stairs everyday."

Despite a kidney waiting list of thousands, hope would come. A family friend was a match, and tested four times, only to fail her final test. Months later, a second donor was ruled out just days before surgery.

Natalie: "I really lost a lot of hope at that point and I was desperate."

But she would not give up, and in March of this year, gave one more plea to our community.

Twenty-one-year-old Ashley Kirby was watching.

Ashley Kirby: "It's hard not to sympathize with that and with her failing health and really it's nothing she deserved."

Over the next few days, Natalie would be overwhelmed with almost 20 phone calls, some offering to do chores for the fatiqued mother, but it was Ashley, at just age 21, who was ready, willing and, with successful tests, able.

Ashley: "She would call me and just ask me if I'm sure that I want to do this, she'd say don't you want to have your babies first, you're so young!"

When we first sat down with Ashley, who works at the Sleep Institutue in Pocatello, it was just about one week before the August 15th surgery.

Andrew to Ashley: "It'd be human nature to have second thoughts -- have you had any second thoughts?"

Ashley: "No... I'm just nervous!"

After six months of testing for Ashley, the day that once seemed so far out of reach for Natalie, was here.

Natalie: "She came by my room and said 'okay I'm gonna go now' and I was sobbing, crying, couldn't believe it, nobody can believe it."

For four days the women would recover in the Intermountain Medical Center in Utah. Ashley recalls that first day when she awoke from surgery.

Ashley: "I remember crying when I heard Natalie's kidney was working and producing urine and that was really exciting, that's all I remember from that day. We were both really emotional, and she's always been really grateful, but the moment you know the kidney works, you could see the relief on her face."

Natalie: "She's amazing, there are no words to describe what kind of a person she is, and what she's done for my family and I. I don't have a sister, but I feel like I have a sister now."

Ashley: "I think Natalie and I are going to be friends for life, I feel like I have a new sister, and the experience is something I'll never forget."

And the experience, for both women, is something they will always share.

Natalie: "We'll share the knowledge of the story and how powerful it is, two people who came together and have a connection and share something like this... She saved my life.."

Natalie's husband Tom got home from Serving in Iraq just weeks before the August surgery.

Both women want people to realize that most organ transplants nowadays are laproscopic, non-invasive surgeries with full recovery.

Also, they say if you have not registered to be an organ donor, that means if you die, for example in a car accident, your organs will not be used for any of the thousands of people waiting for a transplant to save their life.

There are many web sites to register on. You can go to http://www.organdonor.org, or http://www.lifesharers.org, among other ways to register.

http://www.kpvi.com/global/story.asp?s=8934302