Prologue 1

As I sit and think of what happened thirty-six years ago on March 12, 1988, I cannot even fathom my kidney transplant lasted as long as it did before I started dialysis again on March 24, 2019, because my kidney, after twenty-six years was documented in my medical records, was beginning to die from a kidney disease. My kidney lasted thirty-one years because it was a living donor. On March 12, 1988, a Saturday morning morning to afternoon, my journey with my new kidney, thanks to my mom who was forty-four going on forty-five on March 29, 1988, and I was seventeen years old and going to be eighteen that summer on July 3, 1988. Now, five years and four and a half years later, I am on dialysis because my kidney has stopped working properly because of disease started in 2014 when my kidney creatinine went up past 1.5 but was still considered okay and functioning 25% at the time. I was okay with it as long as it showed stability, and I was followed by an increase once again in 2019 telling me it is time to be on dialysis again. Anyway, my dialysis story is another story in itself, and I have decided to write The Gift of Life story after thirty-six years, and share my journey as a kidney transplant recipient.

My mom is now 80 years old and has been with me through my journey even though she has been living in New Mexico since 1982 and later came back to Wisconsin to live nearby her parents while they were older for a few years from 1993-1997. Grandpa Clarence spent the last five years from 1999-2003 in Carlsbad, New Mexico in good nursing homes. Since October 12, 1987, to April 24,2019, I would like to share my story of my kidney failure and transplant, thanks to my mom, my donor, gave me a second chance at life.