After long wait, Kimberly woman to undergo kidney transplant

[Karol]

After long wait, Kimberly woman to undergo kidney transplant
8:15 PM, Nov 27, 2012   |   Comments

Written by
Kyle Daly
Post-Crescent staff writer

It started with a single comment — a joke, really.

Kimberly resident Stephanie Henderson, who had been diagnosed with kidney failure in 2004, was leaving Galvan’s Restaurant in Appleton after having lunch with friend and co-worker Connie Jensen. It was late 2010, and after years of no luck finding a kidney donor, Henderson quipped that maybe she should put up a billboard.

She did, and the national media attention the U.S. 41 billboard generated — with assistance from a nonprofit organization that pairs kidney donor-recipients — helped Henderson find a compatible organ. Henderson will undergo transplant surgery today in Milwaukee.

“Prayers have been answered,” Henderson said.

A familiar struggle
Henderson’s struggles with kidney failure began long before doctors diagnosed the disease in 2004. Both of her kidneys failed in 1991 when she was in high school. Henderson said the failure likely was related to high blood pressure.

A kidney basically acts as a blood cleanser, filtering out any waste or extra water. The body has two kidneys, but a person needs only one to survive. When Henderson’s kidneys failed, she had to undergo dialysis — a repeated treatment in which waste and water is removed from the body.

Henderson’s mom, Karen Werkmeister, donated one kidney to her daughter the summer after she graduated from high school. For years, everything was well.

But then the symptoms came: puffy eyes in the morning, swollen ankles, difficulty with exertion. Henderson told herself it was a result of side effects from medication she was taking.

“I did not want to believe it was happening all over again,” she said.

Henderson said it’s not uncommon for a donated organ to fail and for recipients to have a transplant surgery more than once. Though her mom’s kidney was no longer useful, Henderson didn’t think she’d need to look far for another.

“We just assumed my dad would be my backup kidney,” she said. Family members with similar genetics are typically the best donors, because there’s less risk of rejection.

When doctors told Henderson that her father’s kidney was not compatible, the search for a donor was on.

Idea makes headlines
Henderson’s playful remark to put up a billboard to locate a kidney donor soon gained momentum with the help of her friends.

Jensen returned from lunch with Henderson and fired off emails to friends Tanya Lucas and Joy Sams, who were on board with the idea. The group called themselves Team Steph, playing off the teenage hype surrounding the “Twilight” movie series in which fans divided themselves into groups favoring two characters wrapped in a love triangle, Team Edward and Team Jacob.

Henderson and her friends established a website, findstephakidney.com, and watched their billboard go up on U.S. 41 on Nov. 2, 2011.

She was surprised when a local TV station contacted Team Steph and the story was picked up by media outlets across the country.

A donor found
Between 35 and 45 people stepped forward in the first four months after the billboard went up, but no match was found, she said. A breakthrough came last month, after Henderson’s name was entered in the National Kidney Registry — a nonprofit organization that helps find compatible donor-recipient pairs. Finding a match didn’t take long.

Henderson will receive a kidney from a man on the East Coast, but a Wisconsin woman familiar with Henderson’s story also is donating a kidney on her behalf.

Henderson’s parents are making the long drive from Nebraska to be at her side while she undergoes today’s surgery. And all of the members of Team Steph will be there during Henderson’s recovery.

Henderson said she was shocked at the publicity her story generated, but is thankful of all the support she’s received from the community.

“It’s been wonderful,” she said.

— Kyle Daly: 920-993-1000, ext. 430 or kdaly@postcrescent.com; on Twitter @kyledaly2

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