Wayne had Tribute Tuesday going for a short while, but recently changed it to once a month, Honor Them Thursday. He has more touching stories over at his place. Click here to read them. I was so excited for this, because I have had someone in mind to honor and today is the perfect day to do so.
Today is World Kidney Day. No, I'm not honoring our kidneys, although they are a pretty important organ in our body and well deserve the praise. I am going to honor my sister, because she's been through a lot with her kidneys.
I know for a fact she would hate if I posted a picture of her here, and I'm not sure if she would even want her name mentioned, so she will just be called my sister. Which she is.
Anyway, my sister needs to be honored because of her courage and determination to live.
When she was 5, she had scarlet fever. I don't know if people even get scarlet fever anymore. This was back in the 50's and the house had to have the big quarantine sign on it. My dad couldn't even stay there, because he had to work, and couldn't carry the germs around. She recovered, had a fun childhood, and we now fast forward to high school. I remember her fainting a lot. She would recover and that was that. After high school she got married, and shortly after her marriage, she got pretty sick.
That is when the doctors found out her kidneys were failing. They were the size of a 5 year old.
Imagine that! So her scarlet fever at age 5 was the start of all this.
My oldest sister and my mother offered to donate their kidney to her. My sister was a better match than my mom, so she gave her one of her kidneys. Cool. All is well, right?
Not really. She did live a good life. She had my sisters kidney for over 20 years. (1st transplant in the early 70's)
Early 90's roll around, and kidney's are failing again. She still had one of her own, plus my sisters.
This time I was old enough to offer her one of mine, so 2 of my other sisters and I get tested. Sister #3 was a perfect match, so off they go. (2nd transplant in the early 90's)
Things go not so well. Kidney is doing well, but because of all the medications she is on, other parts of her body start to fail. She has more surgeries, different body parts are removed. She gets really sick a few times. Her husband has been told twice that she will not make it through the night. Somehow, she heard that, and thought, "No way am I going to let a doctor tell me when I am going to die." She is a stubborn fighter.
So kidney #2 is ok for 13 years, but then starts to fail. The rest of her body is failing too, but she fights it. I can't even count how many hospital stays she had, and how many other surgeries she went through. Many. The doctors and hospitals were really a big part of her life. Like I wrote earlier, she is stubborn, and refuses to let this stuff get the best of her. She had things to live for, and she was going to do it.
Alright, kidney #2 is failing and once again she tells us this. She has never once asked if we would donate. She just would bring her illness up, and most of us in the family just offered.
So sister #4 (me) and sister #5 offer once again. I was living in another state at the time, so sister #5 got tested first. A minor health issue came up with her and she was disqualified.
It was a miracle that her doctors let me get tested in the state I was in, instead of traveling to get tested at her hospital. It is a lot of testing, but for me, it was all about her and getting her healthy again. I was told the risks, but that really didn't bother me. She needed help and that was that. The biggest problem I had with it all was getting someone to watch the girls for 2 weeks. Problem solved when 2 of my sisters offered to fly out and stay there with them. Do I have a great family or what?
So, I fly in, donate kidney #3 to my sister. All is well, and will stay well, because I'm stubborn too, and refuse to have the kidney I gave her, fail. Like that's up to me. It's been 3 and a half years since her last transplant. She is doing great. No other health problems going on with her.
It is my honor to honor her. She is really someone to look up to. My minor aches and pains are nothing, compared to what she has been through. She never takes for granted one day of her life. Her attitude is amazing. Never "poor me" or "why me"? She has stumped and amazed many doctors.
So Happy World Kidney Day, dear sister. You mean the world to so many of us, and we are glad you're still in it. Life would be dull without you around. You are always happy and upbeat, and even the rare times that you're not, you still manage to make us laugh. Love you.
