2/17/11
It has been a month and a half since I have submitted my paperwork, including three blood pressure readings, a copy of my recent physical and a lengthy questionnaire about my reasons for donation and family health history. I have thought about Cherina in the meantime, but have been busy with my family and life. Today I received an email from the UWMC Living Donor’s program. I have been selected for “evaluation” and can begin the process to see if I will be able to donate a kidney. It was the best news I had heard in a while. I was sitting in the middle of a workshop for teachers, and checked my email on a break. I am pretty sure I said “shut up,” while hitting the lady next to me, which is just something I would do.
2/26/11
I have been emailing and talking on the phone to people who are with the university transplant team and doing more texting with Cherina. I told her I was in evaluation and, of course, she was more than excited. I know she has been confused, surprised and excited that someone she doesn’t even know wants to give her this gift, but again, I maintain that this is the right thing to do.
I have completed information for the National Living Donor Assistance Center, and received a call yesterday from a very nice lady saying that I was approved for travel and meal assistance throughout the process. She explained that I would be mailed an American express card, which was to be used on days of travel to UW for appointments and the surgery. They load a specific amount of money for each trip and whatever is not used gets put back into the fund for other donors. I was allotted $70 for mileage and $113 a day for food and other incidental expenses like parking. They will pay for a hotel for the night before the surgery, and would have paid for up to 14 nights for the donation surgery for myself and an accompanying person. At this point I want Shane to sleep at home with the girls while I am in the hospital to try to maintain some sort of normalcy for them. I am sure when I come home that it will be a challenge for us all, but one that we can certainly handle.
Again, there is the positive talk about this happening. Why do I feel so certain that this is going to happen? I met Cherina on Thursday evening for a great cup of chai at a local coffee house. I had seen her before, but didn’t remember who she was. I was so nervous about meeting her and I am not exactly sure why. As it turns out I had nothing to be nervous about. Obviously what I am doing for her is a huge gift, but I don’t want a forced friendship because of it. I don’t want her to ever feel like she has to make it up to me. I am doing this because every life has value, and every life is worth fighting for. And, because God told me to. We talked for three hours about almost everything: our lives, family, work, her health, hobbies and more. If I had met Cherina under different circumstances I would have liked her, but I met her now as my recipient, and I am so impressed by her. She has an incredible inner strength, an inspiring faith in God and the ease of a person who has already found their place in life. After non-stop talk at the coffee shop I realize why this is going to happen; it is Gods plan. I have not a doubt in my mind that at this time in my life I am supposed to help her. I have felt strongly about things in the past, like wanting to be a teacher, my desire to be a mom and knowing that my husband was the one. And the feeling that I have right now is comparable to those. I am not sure how I will feel if it turns out that I am not a match; I can’t even imagine that as a possibility.
~Kara
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