A teacher's plea for a kidney donation

A teacher's plea for a kidney donation

Updated: Nov 21, 2008 05:14 PM

To help Patricia Martin:
(702) 526-7796
pmartin@interact.ccsd.net

Educators and administrators at the Clark County School District are coming together to help one of their own battle a life-threatening illness. News 3's Dan Ball has the story of one very dedicated young teacher who is now in the fight of her life trying to find a new kidney.

32-year-old Patricia Martin has been an elementary school teacher for nearly a decade. For years, she worked with troubled inner-city kids in Los Angeles before taking a second grade teaching position at Ollie Detwiler Elementary School here in Las Vegas.

"She has a beautiful smile. It's very contagious. And she's so positive," says Patricia's husband. "She's ambitious, intelligent - basically when I met her, I knew she was everything I wanted in a wife."

Patricia and Daniel were married one year ago. They've already gone through a tough time, with a miscarriage earlier this year. In September, Patricia went to see a doctor to have a mole removed. That's when she received some life-changing news.

"I have stage four chronic kidney disease. I have only 20 percent function left in my kidneys. When I get to five percent, I have to go on dialysis in order to survive," Patricia explains.

"I didn't want to discuss it. I was down and out about it at first," recalls her husband Daniel. "She's helped me become more open minded about it. She has faith that we're going to get help with this situation."

Currently, the waiting period for a kidney from an organ donor list is about one to three years. Patricia's doctors believe that her condition will worsen within one year.

"I'm hoping someone out there will be willing to help me and donate or get tested to donate a kidney to me. My life certainly has a lot more living to do and I have a purpose here."

And that purpose is to teach. Patricia comes from a long line of educators.

She finds not being able to teach "very devastating...because being an educator and teacher is all I know and enjoy."

Patricia is hopeful that she won't have to wait for a cadaver donor and is optimistic that someone will be willing to donate a live kidney.

"It is a great sacrifice. But just remember, a human being can live with one kidney - a healthy and satisfying life. And so you're living with a gift inside you that you may not need."

Because UMC shut down their transplant program, Patricia is now forced to travel to the UCLA Medical Center in California. But she's hopeful because of a new procedure at the facility.

"People do not have to be a match for me exactly. (M)y husband...would like to donate for me but he doesn't match. He can swap with someone else that has a donor that matches with (me) and that would give me a greater chance of receiving a kidney in time."

For now, Patricia is leaning on her family and co-workers for support and trying not to sweat the small stuff. But she continues to hope someone will give her the gift of life.

"Everyday I look at as a new day, a new gift - like today's mercies are new, yesterday's are gone. So when I wake up in the morning I'm always grateful for my life."

http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=9395401