Kidney donation links two women forever

[okarol]

Kidney donation links two women forever

By VICTORIA BARONE
10/3/2007 - Staff Writer
Times Observer

Alice Pedersen says that one of the things she hears most when someone learns she donated a kidney is “How could you do that?” or even “Why would you do that?”

“My question right back is - how could I not?” Alice explained.

Alice is quick to note that she is not saying the answer should be the same for everyone, but in her case, it was very clear.

“I felt it was something that I was meant to do,” she said.

Alice, a Warren resident, first heard of Patrice (better known as Patch) Baker’s need for a kidney when she read about her in a bulletin at Grace United Methodist Church, where she is a member. She read that Patch suffered from polycystic kidney disease and that she had Type O positive blood, and needed a donor with that blood type. Alice has Type O positive blood.

The plea kept her awake throughout the night.

“I think it was just meant to be. It just stuck with me,” she said.

The next morning, she made the call to Patch, offering to be tested for a match.

Patch, who lives in Clarendon, had no relatives to donate a kidney. Her mother had died after years of living with kidney disease, her children, in their 20s, are too young to donate, as the disease may still show up at this point. Her brother and sister have already undergone transplants.

“Thank God for Alice,” Patch said.

She heard from some others, but she could tell right away that Alice seemed to understand what was involved and was determined to go through the entire process.

Patch had suffered from kidney disease for more than 20 years. It left her tired, nauseated, and with her kidneys and in need of dialysis, though she hadn’t started treatments.

“I was preparing for dialysis. I was hanging on a teeny, tiny thread,” Patch recalled.

Patch, a member of Bethany Lutheran Church in Sheffield, decided to let the community know that she was in need of a kidney donor. Her story was written up in church bulletins throughout the area as well as published in the Times Observer and printed on posters left in local restaurants. And she was touched by the responses she got. There were some who offered who were not good enough matches. Alice was.

Screening blood tests at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh were followed by ultrasound tests and an arteriogram, which is something like a heart catheterization, Alice said, but looks instead at blood vessels traveling from the aorta to the kidney.

Alice also had to see an nephrologist as well as being interviewed at length to determine that she was emotionally and mentally as well as physically prepared to be a donor.

The operation was originally scheduled for late August, about eight months after Alice first offered to donate her kidney. But it had to be postponed for six months after Patch underwent an emergency hysterectomy.

In March 2007, the operation moved forward. It went, Alice said, “like clockwork,” and the two, who even shared a room at the hospital, recuperated together, with Alice leaving after four days and Patch six. Alice was able to have her operation performed by laparoscopy, a less invasive procedure than traditional surgery. Right from the start, it was clear the donated kidney was functioning well. Both made swift and complete recoveries from the operation.

“I was extremely impressed with the transplant program and specifically, the donor coordinator,” Alice said.

Alice noted that her husband Rich had been very concerned about her donating her kidney, but he respected her decision. That decision was also something he wasn’t sure he understood completely.

“I’m not that sure even I can totally understand it,” Alice said. “God just laid it on my heart.”

Talk with physicians also helped Rich to see that she could function fine with one kidney, Alice added.

Patch’s husband Jeff also worried.

“He was about as nervous as I was,” she said.

But he was strong and supportive, she said, “and I tried to be strong and supportive for him, because he was going through it, too. The whole family was. It was a family affair.”

The two women have grown very close through their experience.

“I feel kind of like a sister,” Alice said.

Patch still gets emotional when she thinks about what Alice - at the time she offered, a complete stranger - sacrificed for her.

“It makes me cry,” she said.

Alice said she feels fine with her one kidney status. The aftermath of the operation wasn’t as painful, she said, as a hysterectomy she underwent.

And Patch feels like a new woman, with energy to spare.

They both hope that more people will realize what it means for someone to receive a vital organ, and will consider donation. Alice advised anyone considering becoming a donor to do some research, be comfortable with the decision before making it, “and don’t let what you don’t know prevent you from at least learning about it.”

Patch said it’s important for those in need to let others know about their need. People can’t help you if they don’t know, she said.

“There are plenty of negative things people can find to say about small towns and communities, but let me tell you...there are many, many, nice people that are wiling to give you your life back in a small community if necessary, whether you know them or not,” she said.

In a small community, Patch said, it is perhaps easier to spread that information, and for people to feel personal about one another.

Patch calls Alice an angel.

And Alice is also thankful for an experience that has enriched her own life by helping another.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity I was given and the friendship I have gained from this experience,” Alice said. “While some may think the gift I gave her was priceless, I think what I have received is just as priceless and valuable.”

http://timesobserver.com/sports/articles.asp?articleID=6041