Gift of life given to another

Woman turned down kidney, now waits on transplant list

Kelly Hildebrandt

February 20, 2006

Donna Hagert looks at statistics about organ transplants. She is waiting for a kidney. "We're always hopeful every day," Hagert said. (Lara Neel / Argus Leader)

After nearly two years, Donna Hagert thought she was done waiting to find a matching donor to replace her failing kidney.

Her granddaughter's fiance, Chris Capo, had been approved as a matching donor, and the surgery was scheduled for March.

So when Hagert got a call Tuesday night three weeks ago to tell her they had a kidney for her, from a 52-year-old who had died in a car accident, she said no.

"I told them I had a live donor, and I was sure that there was someone else who needed it more than I did," she said.

If that call had come just four days later, she would have given a different answer.

That's when Capo, a caretaker and gardener for a private home in Washington state, called her with the news that he could lose his job if he had the donation surgery. His employer was fearful of the liability if something happened while he was at work after the surgery.

"That put the kibosh to that," her husband, Ralph Hagert, said of the turn of events that meant his wife must go to the end of the transplant-candidate list.

Now Donna Hagert is once again one of 64,773 people waiting for a kidney donation, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

TO BECOME A DONOR

To become an organ and tissue donor, contact: The Avera McKennan Transplant Institute: Phone: 322-7350 or 888-909-1112 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Phone: 301-443-7577 Online: www.organdonor.gov

There are a total of 90,369 people waiting for various donations. It takes an average of three to five years to find a matching donor.

She finds solace that someone else received the donation and could be doing well today.

"I did a lot of praying for the two days after that," she said. "That's what kept me going was maybe I helped someone else."

She also enjoys a support system of friends at St. Therese church, where a Mass was said for her last Friday.

Hagert, 71, has renal kidney disease in her one remaining kidney - a complication of diabetes. The other kidney was removed about five years ago because of cancer.

Her husband and three of four children were not matches to be donors. Her fourth child, Mike, is being tested.

"It's just another bump in the road," Hagert said, adding that she was more worried about Capo than herself when she first heard the news.

"I tried to make him feel better," she said. "I told him that everything would work out for the best."

Capo, who lives in Orca Island WA, said he's feeling much the same - disappointed that he couldn't help and optimistic that it will all work out in the end.

"I feel good knowing that I tried my best," Capo said. "We think something good will come out of it."

Hagert said she feels healthy and is optimistic.

"You're happy to be here in the meantime and happy you're alive and well," she said.

She and Ralph have become experts at everything kidney-related. They are both databases of statistics:

• Every 13 minutes, another person is added to the list for organ donations.
• An average of 17 people die every day waiting for an organ.
• One donor can save about 50 lives from various organ and tissue donations.

It's the first thing she thinks about when she wakes up and the last thing before she goes to bed.

Every time the phone rings, the two get nervous, wondering if it will be the transplant center.

Until she hears whether her son is a match, she's waiting once again for a call that could come tonight or five years from now.

Ralph and Donna live every day ready to go to the Avera McKennan Transplant Institute.

A bag is packed because they must be there within an hour of the phone call. That's why they've taken few trips out of town since she's been on the list and will need permission to travel for two upcoming weddings for her granddaughters.

"It makes you a nervous wreck," Ralph said of having to wait and wonder when the call will come.

Reach Business Reporter Kelly Hildebrandt at 331-2322.

Copyright © 2006 ArgusLeader.com.

This article posted March 10, 2006.