Drive for Five: First Call

On a recent Sunday evening, darling wife and your scribe are sitting down to dinner. My phone rings. On a Sunday night? From an unfamiliar number? I hesitated to answer, but something within overcame that hesitation.

I’m glad it did.

“Mark, this is the CU Transplant team,” said the friendly voice. “We want to know if you’d like to be put into the ‘backup’ position for a kidney that will be available.” I looked at my wife who had overhead the conversation since it was on speaker phone. All this effort through "Drive for Five" to recruit more live organ donors, could it be? Time to consider accepting a deceased donor instead? Again, it was a “backup” offer and only available if the end-stage-renal-disease sufferer in front of me was unable, or unwilling, to accept?

My brown-eyed girl and your correspondent stared at each other. Probably just a few seconds but it seemed like an eternity. I stammered something like, “What’s the age of the potential donor and condition of the kidney?” I don’t recall getting any real answer to those questions because it was instantly apparent for us, this was not good timing. We declined the offer to be the “backup.”

Why? Two mains reasons. Our goal has always been a live organ and this Amyloid-stricken dude, whose kidneys are shot, is otherwise pretty healthy. Peritoneal dialysis has been effective. I have the grace of time. Not forever but currently.

For the record, a vast majority - about 80% - of kidney transplants are from deceased donors. We have about 27,000 transplants a year, less than 7,000 come from live organ donors, That’s a big objective of the DFF Network. We need to educate and inspire more folks to share their spare. It’s perplexing. The number of live kidney donors has remained stagnant at the previously-mentioned number for more than two decades. What? Lots of wonderful people and organizations are working hard to change that. We must do better. 16 die each day on the list. Want to help? Here’s a good place to start: https://nkr.org/mcf936

Anyway, the conversation ended quickly but the processing took awhile. I realized something important: This 66-year-old was ill-prepared to intelligently ask the right questions of the caring caller. I needed to be educated. Nobody better than DFF Network correspondent Kelley Hitchman, known as the “Match Maker.” The San Antonio-based mom, kidney donor and scientist works on the front lines in ensuring those in need get the best match possible for their circumstances. There are factors beyond blood type.

The two-decade veteran of the organ transplant world became the teacher. “The next time you get a call like that, a few things you should ask. First, age of potential donor and the KDPI rating?” Okay, what’s KDPI? It measures the quality of the kidney. The lower the score the better, like a golf handicap.”

Hitchman dug deeper. “Was the virtual crossmatch negative? Were you found to be making any antibodies against the potential donor?” Whew, this can get pretty darn technical. For us far less smart folks? I think Hitchman’s saying since transplant recipients rely on immunosuppressant drugs to help their bodies tolerate/accept the gift, we have to closely monitor how our bodies react to a foreign object, like a transplant. Yep. Despite best intentions, our bodies will try and reject the transplanted organ. Scientists like the mother of two dedicate their lives to match making as best as possible.

There was more. “Then ask if the death was brain or cardiac. Ideally you want that precious deceased soul to have been on a ventilator with blood still flowing to the organs. Cardiac death means blood stopped flowing through the body. Organs begin to deteriorate immediately and will not be the best quality.” Better informed and ready for the next call. I pray the person in front of me on the list received the kidney and has been born again. Further prayers for the deceased for sharing and saving.

Grateful for the education. I pray it helps others, spouses/care givers too, in the same predicament be prepared when the call comes.