Son's Christmas gift to mother: kidney

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Son's Christmas gift to mother: kidney

BY REBECCA BASU • FLORIDA TODAY • December 22, 2008

MERRITT ISLAND -- Lori Papczynski's eyes well with tears when she talks about the gift her son, Andy, will give her this Christmas.
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Tuesday , doctors at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville will perform a kidney transplant, and this 52-year-old mother of seven will receive her 20-year-old son's kidney.

"You feel guilty for asking your kids for a kidney," Lori said.

"But it's not like you had to ask," Andy told her.

The surgery will bring to an end nearly two years of waiting as Lori struggled with kidney failure, an increasingly prevalent problem for many Americans.

Lori and Terry Papczynski, 51, are high school sweethearts who met at Merritt Island High, got married and raised their seven children on the island.

In 2006, unbeknownst to Lori, her kidney function was in rapid decline. She felt tired and had high blood pressure.

Doctors diagnosed kidney
failure in December. The cause: a problem with her immune system.

Lori began dialysis, the difficult, thrice-weekly process of cleaning blood to restore a proper balance of chemicals. She soon found out she was eligible to receive a kidney transplant.

When Andy was chosen as Lori's donor, word spread fast. Strangers told Lori how they prayed for her and how proud they were of Andy.

Unlike his parents, Andy's eyes don't fill with tears when he talks about his first major surgery. An athletic, stocky sophomore at Brevard Community College, Andy jokes and downplays the gift he's giving his mother. But he realizes the jokes serve a purpose.

"The less I build it up, the less I'll be afraid of it," he said.
Common problem

More Americans are suffering from chronic kidney disease, which is linked to diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure, said Dr. Joseph Warren, a nephrologist with Nephrology Associates of Central Florida in Orlando.

Over the past decade, the number of people with kidney failure has doubled and the number starting dialysis or having a first kidney transplant increased by 50 percent, according to findings in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

"Both high blood pressure and diabetes, if not controlled, affect kidney function," Warren said.

Kidney disease doesn't suddenly happen, but occurs over decades, he said.

In the past, doctors would consider mild kidney problems in a patient a sign of aging. Today, doctors are more sensitive to the ways that they can help patients by promoting lifestyle changes and working on risk factors.

Some of the things people can do to avoid kidney disease include using medicines that control cholesterol, controlling diabetes, exercising and maintaining a healthy diet, Warren said.
Learning experience

Lori never asked her five children over 18 to become prospective donors. There was no discussion and no family meeting. They, along with Lori's two brothers and sister, simply filled out donor applications.

Realizing that the process would be lengthy, Andy and his sister Courtney, 19, decided to attend BCC instead of heading to schools out of the county.

Lori made her weekly trips for dialysis in between tests, doctor visits and waiting for Shands to choose a donor. In November, Shands chose Andy.

"Whatever makes her healthy again," Andy said. "Any of us would have done the same thing."

As the days counted down to the surgery, the Papczynskis prepared Andy for what to expect in recovery.

There will be soreness and pain. He will have to hold off on mountain biking and playing volleyball and lifting anything more than 5 pounds.

Terry Papczynski, a space shuttle technician, makes jokes in an attempt to stave off tears, saying that Andy has a "spare part" to give.
'A happy ending'

Though Lori's kidney failure was not caused by lifestyle factors, she's seen her children make changes.

They drink less soda, she said. Andy, in particular, will have to maintain a healthy lifestyle, avoid ibuprofen and stay active after he recovers from surgery.

"Every time I drive past the dialysis center, I never knew what that meant. Now it has a separate meaning. I see how she was wiped out and sick. It's not fun for anyone to go through that," Andy said.

There are 2,914 people on waiting lists to receive kidneys at nine transplant centers in Florida.

Lori knows she's one of the lucky ones: She can get a transplant, has a donor and has good insurance that is covering most of the medical costs.

"This story has a happy ending," she said.

Contact Basu at 242-3618 or rbasu@floridatoday.com.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20081222/NEWS01/812220311/1006/rss01