Cathy Vandiver - 30
“How do you thank somebody for doing that? Every time I think about her and what she’s doing for me, I start crying. It’s such a tremendous gift.”
“I’ve had kidney problems for a while now. I’ve had to watch my creatinine levels for the past eight-plus years. The past year and a half it just got worse and worse. I was on peritoneal dialysis. We came to UAB in October 2012 for an evaluation and got on the waiting list for a transplant.
“Doctors tell me my kidney problems were brought on by high blood pressure and taking too much Aleve and Advil. I have bad knees, and in the morning when I took my medicine, I would just pop an Aleve to help the arthritis in my knee. I never thought anything about it. But years of doing that, combined with high blood pressure, took a toll on my kidneys.
“I never really thought that I felt bad. The whole time they kept watching my levels, I would say, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ My kidney doctor kept telling me, ‘You don’t realize how bad you really feel.’ Since I got this new kidney, I realize how bad I felt. Now I know, and that’s just a few days after the transplant. I can tell a world of difference. It’s like night and day.
“My niece, Linda Hessenberger, came down from her home in Illinois in July to visit her mom, my husband’s sister. She knew my situation and she decided on her own that she wanted to donate, but she didn’t tell me. She asked me general questions about the donation, and then the next thing I knew she had an appointment to be tested. She got an evaluation and did not match me, but we got on the paired donor list. We got the call in October that we had a match. It was just incredible. Linda saved my life. If I had to wait on a cadaver kidney, it could have been eight years.
“How do you thank somebody for doing that? Every time I think about her and what she’s doing for me, I start crying. It’s such a tremendous gift.”