Circle of life

[okarol]

Circle of life

Eric J. Weilbacher
The Herald-Zeitung

Published October 24, 2009
For the first time since they met — when they went in for surgery in 2008 — two kidney donors and two recipients will meet at University Hospital in San Antonio for checkups Monday morning.

Each recipient and donor had different motivations for the series of events that brought them together.

An “altruistic donor” gave her kidney to a young man’s mother. Then the son, not a match for his mother, gave his kidney anyway — to a stranger.

For Kelly Kannard, a receptionist at the Herald-Zeitung, the declining condition of a former co-worker compelled her to want to give more than just blood.

Seeing her friend come to work ghost-white from her dialysis, Kelly began to do some research on what it would take for her to donate a kidney.

Though the two lost touch, that did not sway Kelly’s resolve to donate. First, she tried matching donors.com, and found a family with three brothers all stricken with Alpers Disease (a degenerative nervous disorder). The two older brothers received donors, but the youngest was still on the waiting list.

“I just kept thinking, ‘What is this boy’s mother going through?’ But we didn’t match up,” Kannard said, a mother of two teenagers. “Since I couldn’t donate to him, I went up to University Hospital.”

It was through her initial contact with the Living Donor Program at the University Transplant Center, part of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, that she heard about Belinda Kolman and Anthony McCaskill.

Anthony, Belinda’s son, wanted to donate to her but was not a match. Kelly proved to be a match, however, and Anthony decided to go ahead and see if he matched anyone else that had been on the waiting list. He did. Jose Luis Aguilar had waited for eight years, eventually quitting work to spend his days on dialysis.

“Basically, Kelly came in and didn’t have anybody specifically to donate to,” said Regina Delgado, director of marketing with the University Transplant Center. “She donated to this guy’s mom, and he donated to (someone on the list he matched).”

Not only were they strangers from varying backgrounds, but they differed ethnically.

“Kelly, who is white, donated to Belinda, an African American, and her son, who is bi-racial, donated to a Hispanic man,” Delgado said. “It just goes to show that you don’t have to be related, or event the same race in order to be a kidney donor.”

Kannard agreed.

“It doesn’t matter who you are,” Kannard said, “We are all the same on the inside.”

On Nov. 20, 2008, they all went into surgery and all came out successfully. They met up in December, and will meet up again at Monday’s checkup.

“I just want to make sure everybody is healthy and doing well,” Kannard said.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, about 19 people die each day waiting for transplants, mostly kidneys, while 2,000 are added to waiting lists for kidney transplants each month. Most donations are from cadavers, not living donors like Kannard and McCaskill.

As much as she encourages others to donate kidneys, Kannard said it takes a serious commitment.

“You have to absolutely make sure everyone involved — your kids, family, parents — (can be there to support you),” she said.

It took her three weeks to recover, but it was a huge commitment for her friends and family.

“You have to go in with eyes wide open and knowing that this is truly what you want.”

TO BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR

For information on becoming a donor, contact the Living Donor Program at the University Transplant Center, (210) 567-5777

http://herald-zeitung.com/story.lasso?ewcd=61c964c72fa80486