Woman reaches out to relative in need of kidney

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Woman reaches out to relative in need of kidney
Recipient: 'God put us both in this family for a reason'

July 5, 2007
By Emily McFarlan Staff writer

Like many Naperville residents, Tamara Glenn was on the road this Fourth of July. She traveled to Madison, Wis., with her family, including her sister-in-law Tracy Glenn of Clyde Township, Penn.

That's where the similarities between the Glenns and most other's holidays end.

Today, Tamara Glenn is scheduled for surgery at the University of Wisconsin Hospital to donate one of her kidneys to her sister-in-law, who was in stage five kidney failure.

"She's always giving back to the community," said Tamara Glenn, 47, a kindergarten teacher at Ellsworth Elementary. "She lives life to the fullest and never complains."

Even while her body was rejecting her first transplant, a kidney and pancreas donated four years ago, 38-year-old Tracy Glenn visited patients weekly at Mercy Hospital in Pennsylvania with her therapy dog, Duce.

Tamara Glenn wanted to give something back to her selfless sister-in-law. She said she especially wanted to give her the opportunity to watch her 6-year-old son Jonathan grow.

"How can you thank someone for a gift like that?" Tracy Glenn said.

When an infection caused Tracy Glenn's body to reject her first kidney transplant more than a year ago, doctors began looking for a match among family members. Transplants from live donors have a 95 percent chance of success, Tamara Glenn said, and Tracy Glenn, whose organs were damaged by juvenile diabetes, needed one quickly.

"It is pretty urgent," Tamara Glenn said. "If I didn't donate, they say it would take up to three years before she got a stranger donation, and I don't think she would make it three years."

Though Tamara Glenn is not a blood relative, she is the closest match. The two women are related by marriage to brothers Tim and Bill Glenn.

"We keep saying God put us both in this family for a reason," Tracy Glenn said. "I guess everything happens for a reason."

Contact Emily McFarlan at emcfarlan@scn1.com or 630-416-5196.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/456269,6_1_NA05_KIDNEY_S1.article