Gift of life: A sign, a chance meeting lead to organ donation

Sarah Thorne was volunteering at a National Kidney Foundation walk when she noticed a woman with a hand-written sign on her back telling anyone who saw it that she needed a kidney.

More than 300 people were walking that day. But Thorne decided the message was meant for her.

"I am an organ donor (upon death), but beyond that it never occurred to me that I could donate a kidney," she told The Greenville News. "I felt immediately like that was what I was called to do."

And thanks to that makeshift sign, Terry Gerics got a new chance at life.

"It was such a miracle," she says. "It's amazing that someone so young and healthy would step up to the plate like that."

The women's journey together began two years ago at that walk. Gerics, now 63, was there because she'd been diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease.

The hereditary condition is characterized by cysts in the kidneys, which eventually lead to a variety of complications such as high blood pressure, bleeding into the kidneys, infections, kidney stones and, ultimately, kidney failure, says Dr. Fred Rogoff, a kidney specialist with Carolina Nephrology in Greenville.

"There are some investigational medications, but there is no cure for this disorder," he says. "Dialysis or kidney transplant ... are the only modes to treat the patient with kidney failure."

Though born with the condition, Gerics didn't learn about it until she was 45 after a routine test showed blood in her urine.

"There are lots of symptoms, but I didn't have many," she recalls. "I thought, 'They must have somebody else's medical records because I'm too healthy.' "

Even after the diagnosis, the Greenville hair stylist was doing well until she hit 60. Then she began to suffer kidney failure.

"I had 19 percent kidney function," she says. "So I had the testing done and they put me on a waiting list (for a kidney) and said it would be three to five years."

Taking control

Not satisfied to just sit and wait, she got active with the kidney foundation walk.

"I work on Saturdays and never take off," she says. "But I heard about the walk, so I took off that Saturday and became pro-active."

There, she was passing out T-shirts, some of which read "donor family" or "family of recipient." But none was designated for people in need of a kidney. So Gerics fashioned her own sign and pinned it to the back of her shirt.

Meanwhile, Thorne's family business, an ambulance service, was volunteering at the walk as it does each year. She and her then-3-year-old daughter went to pick up their own T-shirts when she spied Gerics.

"I saw that sign on her back. And I said, 'Hey, I have two. You can have one.' And she thought I was kidding," Thorne remembers. "But I was not kidding."

The two women exchanged contact information, and Thorne, now 28, went home to Fountain Inn to tell her husband what she was planning to do.

"He knows I'm a little 'out there,' but loves me for it," she says with a giggle.

They talked about the risks of the operation to her, as well as what might happen should she or her daughter or husband need a kidney at some point.

"There's always a chance that anything can happen. Hopefully, someone would step up to the plate if we needed it," she said. "In addition, if I went into kidney failure ... as a living donor, I am first on the list for any organ that I would need."

So Thorne took her church's teachings to heart, and decided to act instead of just pray when she came across someone in need.

Gerics was elated.

"I've always been a blood donor, and these are gifts we give of ourselves," she says. "It was her choice and I said, 'Oh my God, thank you.' "

'Good to go'

After the meeting on April 28, 2012, the transplant was performed on May 30 at the Medical University of South Carolina, the designated transplant center for the Palmetto State.

Thorne had some pain after the surgery, which was complicated by an allergy to morphine. But she was fully functioning in four to six weeks and has been fine since.

"It was painful, I'm not going to say it wasn't. It took a good two days to get up and get walking," she says. "But after that, I have had no bad reactions."

And Gerics is "good to go" too, says Rogoff.

"The kidney function so far has been excellent," he says. "She's had no complications. And this disease does not recur in the transplanted kidney."

Gerics says her quality of life is wonderful, as illustrated by a bicyling trip in Holland last year and a recent weekend of sailing in Florida.

"I've gone on with my life because I have a lot of life to live," she says. "I feel great, other than a little back pain, and that could be from doing yard work."

Once again, both women will be at this year's National Kidney Foundation Upstate Kidney Walk, which raises funds to help support free health screenings, education and research. It also urges people with high blood pressure, diabetes or a family history to get screened regularly because there are few warning signs until nearly all kidney function has ceased.

The walk will be held on Sunday at the Furman University Amphitheater, almost two years to the day since they met.

"It's a miracle not just because I got to meet Sarah and get her kidney in a month. But she's a living donor and the success rate is so much greater," says Gerics, who quips that along with Thorne's 28-year-old kidney, she hopes a little of her DNA will rub off too.

"She's gorgeous, brilliant, and likes chocolate," she says. "If we had more people like her on this planet, it would be a lot happier."

YOU CAN GO

The 2014 National Kidney Foundation Upstate Kidney Walk will be held on Sunday, April 27 at the Furman University Amphitheater. To learn more, go to http://donate. kidney.org/site/TR/ Walk/SouthCarolina?pg= entry&fr_id= 6730.