“I was diagnosed with pauci-immune glomerulonephritis in 2014. PICG is a syndrome that leads to renal failure, relatively quickly after it is diagnosed in many cases. The diagnosis really came out of nowhere. I had always been a healthy person, but then I suddenly started having allergic reactions to things I had never been allergic to before, like fish.
“I went to the doctor and they couldn’t figure out at first what was wrong. They began to think it was lupus, but after they ordered a kidney biopsy, it confirmed that I had PICG.
“With my kidneys starting to fail, I began dialysis on Oct. 29, 2016. Little did I know that almost one year later — on Oct. 12, 2017 — I was going to get a transplant.
“But before that, I had to go through dialysis treatment. It was certainly a different experience. I am home health care nurse, and I thought dialysis was going to keep me from being able to work. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. I was able to continue doing my job, but I was tired all the time. I was very thankful that the dialysis was helping me, but some days were really difficult.
“My biggest fear throughout the whole process was definitely the unknown, because I had never been a sick person before. You don’t know how you’re going to react to dialysis, to transplant, or even if you will have an opportunity to get a transplant.
“I’m so fortunate that I was able to get a transplant at UAB. I’m doing pretty good now. I have more energy, and I’m still working. I can tell a difference in the way I feel.
“I didn’t know that I was part of the UAB Kidney Chain. There were three of us who transplanted on the same day, and I didn’t know there were going to be that many people involved.
“It was nice having an opportunity to meet my donor, Melissa McIntyre, and her brother, Jonathan Holcomb, who was a transplant recipient the same day as me. We still keep in touch. It’s amazing what she did for her brother, and my sister is actually the one who is donating on my behalf so I could receive a kidney. It’s an amazing gift that they are giving so that we can have a chance to be healthy. I know I will be grateful for what they have done forever.”