Donating on faith

[Karol]

National Kidney Registry
Donating on faith

Woman says it was 'right thing to do'

Michel Nolan, Staff Writer
Posted: 06/06/2011 08:27:34 PM PDT
Updated: 06/06/2011 10:36:43 PM PDT

SAN BERNARDINO - Krystle Wheeler`s decision to donate her kidney to a stranger is one she would gladly make again.
In August, the 25-year-old Crafton Hills College student donated her kidney because she thought it "was the right thing to do."
On May 2, the National Kidney Registry honored her with its prestigious American Hero's Award in Philadelphia.
Wheeler, a 2004 San Gorgonio High School graduate, was among 11 "good Samaritan" donors throughout the United States recognized by the registry for their life-saving contributions to people facing kidney failure.
The donors spurred 62 life-saving exchange transplants for people who had previously incompatible donors.
The decision to donate her kidney was a "two-or-three-year journey. I prayed about it a lot," said Wheeler, a resident of San Bernardino whose goal is to go to seminary and become a United Methodist pastor.
Her inspiration came from an unlikely source - wrestling. Wheeler is a big fan.
She was listening to a pro wrestling podcast and heard about an effort to find a kidney donor for someone in Mexico.
"Later, when I heard them interviewing the donor, I thought, `that doesn't sound too bad,"' she said. "I talked to my pastor and prayed about it and started researching kidney registries."
Enter the nonprofit National Kidney Registry.
In April 2010, she underwent tests at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego and by August she returned. Dr. Evan Vapnak performed the three-hour surgery.
Wheeler doesn't know the recipient of her kidney. All she knows is that it was a woman, and that the transplant took place at Stanford University.
It took Wheeler three weeks to recover, she said.
Wheeler is among a growing number of donors in the exchange donor program.
There seems to be more awareness about the need for such donors, said Diane Zocchia, director of donor relations for the National Kidney Registry, based in Babylon, New York.
"Each year, we're seeing an increase in the number of living donors," Zocchia said.
There were 17,000 kidney transplants in the U.S. in 2010 and of those, about 11,000 came from a deceased donor, according to Ira Brody, National Kidney Registry spokesman.
"Krystle is what we call an altruistic donor because she does not need a kidney in return," Brody said. "Right now, we have 3,000 people registered to be altruistic donors. An altruistic donor is capable of setting off an infinite chain of donations."
Nationwide, there are 86,000 people with End State Renal Disease (ESRD), who are in immediate need of a kidney, according to Garet Hil, president of the National Kidney Registry.
In spite of the progress being made, about 5,000 Americans will die this year waiting for a kidney, Hil said.
"The acceleration of paired kidney exchange transplants can turn this around," Hil said. "At our current rate of growth, the National Kidney Registry expects to facilitate more than 1,000 transplants every year by 2013."
Wheeler explained the paired kidney exchange.
"I donated to a person who was a stranger to me. That person had a donor originally, but they were not a match. So that donor donated to someone else, who was a better match, and that person's donor donated to someone else and it continues," said Wheeler, who is active in her church, Emmanuel United Methodist.
"My church family has been so supportive and so kind," she said. "I would recommend anyone who's healthy to donate life. If you can, do it."

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