"In August of 2016, I was at the gym when I just didn’t feel right. I thought my potassium was low, but it was actually much worse. My kidney was shutting down. I’m an active person, and I was coaching soccer, playing softball and doing all of these things while my kidneys were not working properly. I soon discovered my kidney function was four percent, and after 11 days in the hospital they said I needed a kidney transplant.
"Everything happened just like, 'boom.' It was out of the blue. I’ve always been pretty healthy. I don’t drink or smoke. I actually donated a kidney to my dad in 1998, but my one kidney just went bad for reasons that we don’t really know.
"I know when Dr. Carlton Young took my kidney out, he said it look like I had been shot because I had so many stones develop in the kidney, and it tore it up.
"The big difference between my transplant and my dad’s was that he had to wait for so long. He had untreated hypertension, and I had offered to donate my kidney to him for several years. He always said, “But what if your kids need a kidney.” He finally deteriorated so much that after several years, that he had no choice.
"For me, I found out July 17, 2016, that I needed a transplant, and I had my surgery on Aug. 18, 2017. UAB told us about its living donor exchange program and the support I received was overwhelming. There were 13 people who tested to give to me, including all of my kids and several of my soccer moms.
"My son-in-law, Keith Applegate, was the person who donated on my behalf. At first, I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want him to have to go through the donor process. When I was in the hospital and told I was going to need the transplant, I said no. I said I would go on and live my life the best as I could and drop dead on the soccer field.
"I was on a group text with my four kids and their spouses and told all of them that, and Keith just said, 'Ask the three grandbabies what they think about that.'
"When he put it like that … I knew I couldn’t ignore it. I did dialysis treatments for a year. It wasn’t horrible, but it was a pain to stay on that schedule.
"I’m just so thankful to my family and friends for being tested and, how can I ever thank Keith enough for being willing to donate to a stranger so I could have my own transplant and have a chance to be healthy again and be here for my family? To know someone cares about me and my daughter that much is just indescribable. And now, I’m healthy. Now my grandbabies can spend the night any night they want to.
"I also had an opportunity to meet my donor, Sarah Lewis. She’s amazing. We have so much in common. We both have adult kids both hold family very close. We have stayed in contact since the transplant.
"The ironic thing is that Sarah donated a kidney so her dad could receive a kidney. I told her that’s why I donated in 1998, was so my dad could get a kidney. The really cool thing was that Dr. Mark Deierhoi did my dad’s transplant, and he also did mine. I thought that was pretty awesome.
"We’ve met some amazing people through this whole process, and just incredible to be a part of something so powerful and meaningful to so many. I will never be able to thank Keith, Sarah or any of these donors enough for what they did. It’s just amazing.'