The greatest gift: Decision to donate kidney saves friend’s life

This was something she could do.

Jessica Kegeris felt it with conviction.

She knew that Matt Smith needed a kidney. The southside Indianapolis resident has struggled for years with polycystic kidney disease that destroyed his organs and eventually put him on the list for a transplant. But the wait for a deceased donor was lengthy; it wasn’t clear when or even if Smith would receive one.

When his wife Sandy Smith spoke of his failing health, Kegeris, her friend and fellow nurse, made a decision in that moment to do whatever she could to help.

“I didn’t even question it. His kidney function tanked, he was going on dialysis, and I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to give him a kidney,’” she said.

By offering to become a living donor through paired donation, Kegeris not only provided a life-saving kidney to another transplant patient, but moved Matt Smith to the front of the transplant list himself. On Oct. 23, he received his kidney transplant; in the six weeks since, he had rediscovered a life he thought was lost forever.

Kegeris doesn’t think what she did was extraordinary.

The Smiths disagree.

“(Matt) calls her ‘my angel on earth,’” said Sandy Smith.

Matt Smith, 47, had known he would likely need a kidney transplant for much of his life. He was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in middle school after suffering an injury playing football.

Polycystic kidney disease is an inherited condition that causes fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys, leading to kidney damage and failure.

From the time of his diagnosis, Matt Smith was on blood pressure medication as doctors monitored his kidney function to determine the next course of action.

“My whole adult life was basically doing the monitoring. Then my health started falling apart a few years ago, and they put me on the deceased transplant list two years ago,” he said.

As a lieutenant detective with the Beech Grove Police Department, Matt Smith’s spiraling health deeply impacted his entire life. He always felt cold — he kept a heater under his desk at work, always wore a jacket and had electric blankets all over his home, even in the summer time.

Fatigue also overwhelmed him on a regular basis, and he was constantly itchy.

“I’d itch until I was basically bleeding,” he said. “And it didn’t just affect me. The longer it went, I’d go sleep in another room, because I was waking up my wife.

“Basically, you just feel miserable. Your quality of life goes down because you’re dealing with all of these issues as they arise. You’re basically just losing a step and losing a step and losing a step,” he said.

Matt Smith had to go on dialysis in January, which took a greater toll on his whole body. When it became clear he would need a kidney transplant, Matt Smith’s friends, family and others stepped forward in hopes to become a transplant match. None of them did, which left a transplant from a deceased donor the likely only option.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, a wait on the list can take between two and five years, if not longer. Throughout the United States, more than 103,000 are on the list for organ donation, and 17 people die each day waiting for a transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

More than 89,700 people were in need of a kidney as of September — including Matt Smith.

Kegeris had known about Matt Smith’s failing kidneys for years. She and Sandy Smith had worked together in the orthopedics/neuro/spine unit at Community Hospital South. The two and their husbands often would socialize outside of work and had a friendship that had endured.

The more she learned how Matt Smith was hurting, the more she wanted to do something. In researching kidney transplantation, she learned about living paired donation.

Living paired donation is a process in which a person offers to donate a kidney after a lengthy and rigorous evaluation process. Living paired donation is an option for people who are not compatible or are poorly matched to be matched with other recipients and donors. Because of their donation, the recipients “trade” donors to allow the transplants to occur, according to IU Health.

The more Kegeris researched the option, the more she wanted to try it.

When she revealed her plan to the Smiths last December, she told them, “I’m going to get him a kidney for Christmas.”

For Matt Smith, it was initially difficult to accept.

“I didn’t like it,” he said. “I’m no different than any police officer — we don’t necessarily like to ask for help with things. I had wrapped my mind around, if someone passed away and donated, I wouldn’t necessarily be taking something from someone. When it went from a deceased donor to a living donor, it takes an adjustment period.

“It’s very humbling.”

But Kegeris was steadfast.

“I didn’t even second guess it, but I didn’t think I’d make it all the way through,” she said. “I figured if they told me I wasn’t a match, that would be where it stopped. But to find out there were all these other options out there, and a few different ways to donate, was all new to me.”

Kegeris was scheduled for surgery to remove her kidney in July. Though the first few weeks of recovery were difficult, she has made a full recovery.

“It wasn’t bad. I rested for a couple of weeks, moving around a little bit more. It took the whole six weeks to get back to baseline,” she said. “But looking back, I’d do it again. I can’t — but I would.”

Matt Smith had his own surgery in late October at IU Health University Hospital. There were no complications, and his kidney function has rapidly increased. He no longer struggles with the issues regulating his temperature, itching or retaining water weight that plagued him before.

For the first time in years, he was able to go the gym and walk for an extended time.

“The first couple of weeks were pretty rough. But six months from now, that will just be a blink. When you’re in it, you don’t think so, but by week five, I’m feeling much better,” he said.

The transformation had been incredible to those around him.

“It’s been amazing. I was astonished how quickly it happened. They always tell you these things, you read about them, hear the stories. But to witness it firsthand, it still gives me chills,” Sandy Smith said. “His energy is coming back. You see that light in their eyes again.”

The experience has also served as an opportunity to educate people about living paired donation. They’ve worked with Donate Life Indiana, a nonprofit organization responsible for managing the Indiana organ donor registry, aiming to save lives by creating opportunities for all Indiana citizens to register to become organ and tissue donors.

“That’s been a neat thing. People didn’t realize they could be a living donor for kidneys and livers,” Matt Smith said. “It doesn’t just save the person you’re donating to, you’re saving the next person in line who moves up. So it helps more than just one person.”

The Smiths and Kegeris hope to help others understand that such donation is an option.

“We want to use all of this, too, as an opportunity to let people know about this. We work in health care, and we didn’t even know all about this,” Sandy Smith said. “We want to encourage people, and let them know that’s not the end. If they have someone who’s willing to donate for them, there are other options.”

AT A GLANCE

Organ donation

What kinds of organ donation are there?

Living donation: Kidney and liver patients who can receive a living donor transplant can receive an organ much sooner, often in less than a year.

Deceased donation: Deceased organ, tissue and eye donation is the process of giving an organ (or part of an organ), tissue or eye at the time of the donor’s death, for transplantation to another person. Deceased donors can provide kidneys, liver, heart and valves, lungs, pancreas, intestines, bones, veins, corneas, islet cells and tendons.

Vascularized Composite Allografts: These procedures involve transplant of multiple structures that may include skin, bone, muscles, blood vessels, nerves and connective tissue. The most commonly known type of these are for hand and face transplants.

Who can be an organ donor? Anyone. There are no age or race restrictions for donation, and regardless of medical history, you can sign up to be a donor.

To register to be an organ donor, go to donatelifeindiana.org/show-your-support/sign-up/ and fill out the required form. People also can register to be a donor at any Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles location.

To inquire about living donation, go to iuhealth.org/find-medical-services/living-kidney-donation or iuhealth.org/find-medical-services/living-organ-donation.

Source: Donate Life Indiana