Area Lifeline Gets Boost

Area Lifeline Gets Boost
WNY Kidney Connection Granted Non-Profit Status

January 15, 2012
By Scott Shelters (sshelters@post-journal.com) , The Post-Journal
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In 2006, four Western New York women thought of a way to save local lives. Six years later, their idea has taken off.

Jamestown's Jeanette Ostrom and Buffalo-area residents Patti Merritt, Diane Kryzanowski and Tina Long created the Western New York Kidney Connection after seeing the complications surrounding kidney transplants firsthand. Each woman either needed a kidney personally or had a loved one in need of a transplant.

Like many others, they learned that finding a kidney can be a difficult task. In 2008, 4,573 kidney patients died while waiting for life-saving organ transplants, according to the National Kidney Foundation's website.

In Western New York, Buffalo General Hospital policies once prevented kidney patients from receiving organs from certain donors, particularly those with no direct connections to the recipients. Patients, including Mrs. Ostrom's son Paul, could not receive kidneys from prospective donors whom they met on the Internet. Instead, they remained on waiting lists, hoping for the best.

"People couldn't understand why a complete stranger would want to do this," Mrs. Ostrom said. "A lot of hospitals are still fighting it."

The four women met with Buffalo General Hospital officials and helped change the policy. The women launched the Western New York Kidney Connection website shortly thereafter.

Thanks to their efforts, Western New Yorkers in need of kidneys post free profiles on www.wnykidneyconnection.org to tell their stories in hopes of finding donors. Since then, 43 area residents who posted profiles on the site have received kidneys from living donors. Five of the patients received kidneys from total strangers.

"Anyone who lives in our area can now find a living kidney donor on the Internet," Mrs Ostrom said. "They could find someone on Facebook; they could take out an ad in the paper. They won't deny a donor strictly because they're not a close member of your family, which had always been the case here in the past."

Each user can post a photo, hometown, blood type and personal story. From there, everyday men and women offer their kidneys to make life-saving matches.

With a history of match-making success, the connection received nonprofit 501(c)3 status and became Kidney Connection Inc. recently.

"I think that gives us legitimacy," Mrs. Ostrom said. "Nonprofit status will allow us to raise funds to help keep the website up and running and also, if we have available funds, allow us to provide help to those on dialysis with their non-medical expenses."

Mrs. Ostrom hopes the organization will be able to assist out-of-town donors with travel, food and lodging costs. However, the majority of the donors have come from Western New York, which has minimized those costs.

One Jamestown resident agreed to provide another with a life-saving transplant earlier this month. They hope the operation will take place in the coming weeks, according to Mrs. Ostrom.

The ECMC kidney transplant unit, which combined efforts with Buffalo General Hospital, offers kidney transplants for the Western New York region. Mrs. Ostrom hopes to work with the unit to attract more living donors.

Western New York Kidney Connection never lacked media attention, drawing interest from regional and national newspapers. However, Mrs. Ostrom believes increased exposure will be the key for providing more kidney transplants throughout the region and the nation.

"We try to do as much as we can to find donors, and becoming a nonprofit gives us the means to do it," she said. "The people who need a kidney, they're going to hear about us. They're going to hear about us in dialysis; they're going to hear about us when they go to the transplant clinic. We will do everything possible to advertise the site in hopes of finding living donors."

At times, a family member of someone registered on wnykidneyconnection.org wishes to donate a kidney to that loved one, but their blood types don't match, complicating the transplant situation. He or she can still help that loved one by participating in a "kidney exchange." Basically, the website can be used by prospective donors to match kidneys with those who need them in exchange for kidneys for their own loved ones.

In the future, Kidney Connection Inc. plans to expand into other regions of the nation, using the website template and logo created by Cathy Abrams Kimball, of 2nd Look Graphic Design in Jamestown.

"There could be the Myrtle Beach Kidney Connection. That's our dream," Mrs. Ostrom said.

The organization will try to greatly increase the number of people who donate kidneys. Since 1959, 50,000 living donors have done so, according to the National Kidney Registry's website.

Regardless of how much Kidney Connection Inc. and the four women behind it accomplish, the organization has already exceeded expectations by making transplant matches and becoming a non-profit organization.

"When we opened the website, we thought it would be amazing if we saved one person's life," Mrs. Ostrom said. "To know that all this has happened is just mind boggling."

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