Charlene, as always cheerful on the outside, in desperate need of a kidney inside.
In Need of a Kidney
Occasionally, while listening to the nightly news or reading the daily newspaper, we hear about someone who has a condition or disease that places their life in jeopardy. Often that person is not someone we know or even someone in our community. However, this time the story is different because Charlene Fero is my friend.
To look at her one would never guess she has suffered the effects of a debilitating disease since the age of eighteen. Born with a genetic condition known as Polycystic Kidney Disease, otherwise known as PKD, this condition eventually leads to kidney failure because of cysts that grow on the kidneys. Symptoms include headaches, back aches, hip pain, blood in the urine and high blood pressure.
Now in the final stage before kidney failure, her window of opportunity for a transplant is very narrow. Hoping this story will open the door for anyone interested in being a donor, if she doesn’t get a kidney soon, she will have to start dialysis.
While it’s true kidneys can be transplanted from someone who is deceased, chances of a successful transplant are better with a live donor. Most donors return to their normal schedule within a few weeks, adjusting quite well to life with just one kidney.
Wanting to get the word out, Charlene asked if I would write a story for our local newspaper, The Salisbury Post in Salisbury, NC. Hoping this blog will generate more prospective donors, I’ve included a link at the bottom of this page to that article as well as contact info.
When writing this blog, I mentioned to a friend, Cindy Campbell, about Charlene’s need for a transplant. Cindy, in turn, said she is friends with a retired professor of Family Medicine from the University of North Carolina, Dr. Peter Rizzolo.
Dr. Rizzolo’s interest in organ transplants goes back to when just a teenager, he lost one of his friends from kidney failure. With the need for transplants far outweighing donors, Dr. Rizzolo says this issue is close to his heart. Now that he’s a writer, he undertook the task of writing a book dealing with that issue. His first novel, “Forbidden Harvest,” “highlights the need for more donors as well as the moral and ethical issues involved in organ procurement and transplantation.” To learn more about this novel, or Dr. Rizzolo, check out his website at http://peterrizzolo.com/
If interested in becoming a donor for Charlene, contact Carolinas Medical Center, Transplant Center in Charlotte, NC, at (704) 355-3602 and request a donor package. Even if you’re not a match for Charlene, there’s a possibility you will be a match for someone else. For those who keep up to date with yearly exams most of the requirements should already be fulfilled. Everything is confidential, including the name of the donor.
To read more of Charlene’s story, or to learn more about becoming a donor, click here.
In advance, thank you and God bless.
Dicy
www.dicymcculloughbooks.com/blog
