Kimmy, my father, was given a kidney by my sister, Kimalie. My father has been fighting this kidney disease for a long time and is now able to live again thanks to his daughter, our hero.
I was diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy as a teenager. It is a hereditary disease where the antibody IgA builds up in the kidney and causes damage. In most people, this antibody fights infection, but in my case, too much of it deposited in the blood vessels of the kidney, producing protein in my urine and affecting my blood pressure. With this disease the chances of kidney failure is certain but it can be postponed for many years. Luckily, Dr. Prakash discovered my disease almost right away and I was able to maintain my function for more than twenty-five years.
In the meantime, I finished school, got a job, married and had children. One child in particular, my oldest daughter Kimalie was not born during the best of circumstances. For the first two years of her life, it was mainly just me and her and because of that, we have always been close.
She was a stubborn and willful child and though her mom (step-mother) and I felt at the time that those were her worst traits, in some ways they have become her best. Regardless of the struggles Kimalie and I have faced as she matured, she has always had a deep love and strong commitment to her family. There isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for me, her mom, her sisters or brothers.
As a matter of fact, when she realized that stage 5 renal failure meant that I would need a kidney transplant, she was the first to volunteer. We had all the preliminary testing done and although she was the right blood type, our antibodies were not a close enough of a match and though she was my own flesh and blood, she was not compatible. She said she was sorry that she couldn’t be my hero.
She heard about the kidney swap and wanted to so badly be a part of that because she wanted me to be as healthy and well as she had always remembered but I was hesitant at first. It wasn’t because I didn’t think she could handle it, it was because I was afraid that even if she donated her kidney to another family they would still be unable to find a match for me. I did not understand at first that the kidney swap program meant that I would receive a kidney on the very same day she donated hers. I just did not want her to feel she had gone through the surgery for nothing, but she didn’t care…she just wanted to help someone…anyone, even if it couldn’t be me.
That was about a year and a half ago. Since then, I elected to do in home dialysis through the stomach, or peritoneal dialysis. In this way I was able to continue to work my 12 hour days and come home for dialysis treatments that last 9 hours every night. The long hours prevent me from being as active as I was when she was growing up, so I miss a lot of time spent with my grandchildren (Kimalie has two girls; ages 4mos and 4 years). And, most every morning I wake up nauseated, but I go to work because I am the only source of income for my family as I have a wife, two children and my mother still living in the home with me.
Kimalie has also moved back in with us. She needs us as much as we need her. She is a single mom working as a manager at a local pizza restaurant and sometimes, she just can’t make ends meet. But, together we make it through every pay day and every month…one at a time.
Recently, in order to reduce the amount of time I spend on dialysis and also in the hopes of lowering my antibody levels in order to hopefully find a better match for a new organ, my wife and I planned to switch from peritoneal dialysis to home hemo-dialysis. While in training, we talked more about the kidney swap program and after speaking to my nurse at UAB, who helped me to understand how the program would work, I agreed to let my daughter participate in the kidney swap.
She has an appointment for her evaluation at UAB on August 18, 2013. I am not sure how long it will take once she is in the system, but Dr. Prakash seems to think it will only be a few months. We are both nervous and excited and I am extremely proud of my daughter. The funny thing is that she wants to do this for me because she thinks I am her hero and she wants to be mine. What she doesn’t understand though, is that she has been my hero all along.
Thanks for taking the time to review our study. I hope we can be of use to you and your documentary. There is a seven year waiting list for kidney transplants and if people are more informed about the kidney swap program, I think that list will be shortened considerably.
Sincerely yours,
Kimmy Jordan
July 2013
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