Kidney donor found at church

Kidney donor found at church

April 11, 2006

By LINDA GITTLEMAN
Gratiot Managing Editor

Dave Freestone said he‘d never considered that a possible donor for his much needed kidney transplant might be someone he‘s not related to.

After ruling out his family, Freestone, the manager of the Secretary of State‘s office in Alma, wondered, ”How do you ask someone?“

But Freestone as it happened, had no need to ask. A total of nine people volunteered to be tested as possible matches and two candidates made it all the way through the strictest of tests.

Freestone and his family attend the Lincoln Road United Methodist Church and fellow church member Susan Hartley was the ultimate winner.

”My daughter had overheard Dave say he was on the donor list,“ Hartley said, noting that she simply made up her mind to be tested. ”You can‘t donate after the age of 60 and most of the church members were over that. I was 55.“

Her decision made, in March Hartley began submitting to a battery of tests in Ann Arbor.

”They tested me like you wouldn‘t believe,“ she said. After CAT scans, electrocardiograms and a host of other tests along with serious kidney function tests, she learned she was a match.

On June 12 she went to the hospital. The doctors put three small holes in her abdominal area and with a small incision removed her left kidney.

The operation took about three hours and she was home the next day.

”The pain was not bad, I expected it to hurt,“ she said. ”When I left the hospital I was on Tylenol - regular Tylenol.“

Freestone‘s operation came a little after Hartley‘s and lasted a bit longer.

Because of his diabetes, Freestone, 59, had been on dialysis for about two months, but as he said, ”I was sick for so long, I didn‘t know what ’normal“ felt like.“

Following about an eight week recuperation, he was back at work and feeling much more ”normal“ than he‘d felt for a long time. But then Freestone became sick again - very sick. He was told he might not walk again. Doctors waited for about two weeks for the test results and the illness turned out to be a virus- from Hartley‘s kidney. It was a chicken pox virus that had lain dormant, she said.

Although 80 percent of the people have that virus, Freestone was one of the 20 percent that didn‘t. Years ago, he likely would have died, he said.

And now?

”I feel great,“ he said. He will continue to take anti-rejection medicine for the rest of his life.

Hartley said that Freestone‘s insurance covered all of her expenses.

”Most insurance companies will pay it,“ she said.

A part-time worker with three jobs - she works at Meijer and Gratiot Community Mental Health as well as babysitting for her grandchildren - Hartley is the grandmother of 11. She said she was concerned about her children and grandchildren. What if they might need a kidney someday?

She said she was assured by the doctors that if that were true, they would likely be showing some symptoms now.

Because of his successful transplant, Freestone and Hartley were staging an organ donation sign- up Tuesday at the Secretary of State‘s office.

For more information about organ donations you may contact the Gift of Life Michigan website at www.giftoflifemichigan.org or call 1-800-482-4881.

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