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April 2008: Jerri M. of Virginia
Each month, the American Kidney Fund recognizes someone who has benefited from our grant programs and is leading a full and active life. Click here if there's someone you'd like to nominate for Patient of the Month!
During April, which is Donate Life Month, we recognize Jerri M. of Fairfax, Virginia, a veteran kidney patient who has been through it all – dialysis, transplantation, and back again – and is now looking forward to another kidney transplant in June thanks to the generosity of a good friend who will be a living donor.
The Gift of Life
Her story begins in 1972, when at 16 years old she discovered that she had been born with a congenital kidney defect and had to begin dialysis treatment at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, D.C. immediately. In 1972, dialysis was a relatively new invention. There were virtually no outpatient dialysis clinics and many hospitals did not offer the treatment. Jerri remembers that people came from all over the area to receive treatment at GW, driving from West Virginia and even Pittsburgh.
“Dialysis was different then. You came sick and went home sick,” said Jerri. “Technology and medication have come a long way since then as far as dialysis is concerned.”
In 1975, Jerri received the call she had been waiting for: a kidney had been found for her. She was only the 11th patient at GW to have kidney transplantation. A film crew followed the story – from the surgical recovery of the kidney from a hospital in Kentucky to the transplant procedure. The transplant made headline news on The Today Show, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center sent the video to surgeons throughout the country to demonstrate a successful kidney transplantation.
It was in 1978 that Jerri first became involved with the American Kidney Fund. AKF was looking for patients who could participate in the first International Transplant Olympics. AKF contacted Jerri and invited her to participate in the competition, held in Portsmouth, England in August, 1978. Jerri’s good friend George, also a transplant recipient, joined up with her. This was the first time Jerri had the opportunity to travel outside of the States. She participated again in the 1982 Transplant Olympics, held in Athens, Greece.
“AKF provided me with an opportunity of a lifetime. I was flabbergasted when they first asked if I wanted to go to England,” Jerri said. “In the ’82 games I ended up winning second place in badminton!”
Jerri’s transplanted kidney functioned successfully in her body for 30 years. And then, on April 19, 2006, the doctors delivered the worst news possible to her. “A few years ago I had thyroid cancer and the treatment path for that was radioactive iodine. The treatment destroyed the kidney that had worked so well for so many years,” said Jerri.
Apprehensive to begin dialysis again because of her difficult experience in the 1970s, Jerri didn’t begin treatment until she absolutely had to in order to survive. To her surprise, dialysis treatment had advanced over the years and it was much easier for her. “I’m not sick anymore; I’m doing well with the treatment,” she said.
Financial Challenges
However, not everything was going well for Jerri. The out-of-pocket costs associated with dialysis treatment are very high, and her health insurance premiums were so high that it was becoming much more difficult to make the payments. In 2007 her social worker asked if she would like to submit an application to AKF for health insurance premium assistance. Jerri quickly filled out the application and soon became one of 34,000 dialysis patients nationwide who are enrolled in AKF’s HIPP program. This program helps qualified dialysis patients to maintain their life-sustaining health insurance coverage.
“The assistance that AKF provided me with is a great blessing. My life has become less challenging because of it,” said Jerri. “I’m so grateful that AKF is around to help patients like me. My life was changed by AKF through the Transplant Games and when I needed them again, they were there for me.”
Jerri is planning to have a second kidney transplant this June in Atlanta. The donor is a good friend of hers. Living donations are becoming more and more common as people realize that it is possible to give a kidney to a friend or loved one and still live a normal and healthy life afterward.
Where is her friend George now? Three years ago George started the Quarter Century Club to celebrate organ transplant longevity. The club has over 40 members now, with the oldest member 38 years out from the transplant!
A Positive Outlook
To those beginning dialysis, Jerri says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick. We all want and hope that our kidneys will start up again, and remaining on dialysis can be difficult lifestyle adjustment. However, a machine that cleanses our blood restores us to some semblance of the life we had prior to kidney failure.”
“I can maintain a life style thanks to dialysis. I can continue to have hopes and dreams that realistically can come true….I have a vision of the future thanks to dialysis.”
Do you know a kidney patient who has benefited from an AKF grant program and is leading a full or inspirational life? E-mail Katie Christopher to nominate someone for AKF Patient of the Month. Please include your phone number and a short description of why you are nominating the individual. We will contact you to get the details, and you just may see this special person featured on our website!
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