Give a Kidney-
Get Good Karma for Life!

Nearly 30 years ago, 10 Michigan siblings took turns saying goodbye to their mother, who struggled for seven years on dialysis and underwent several painful experimental surgeries to remove the large, toxic cysts that were slowly overtaking the mass of her kidneys and causing her kidneys to shut down.

Today, those siblings are now middle-aged, and six of the 10 are afflicted with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), the same life-threatening genetic disease that took the lives of their mother, grandfather and many more. Two of them have already received lifesaving kidney transplants from altruistic living donors, and four more will need them.

One of these siblings is Patricia Coyle, the second oldest of the 10, a mother of two grown daughters, who has been on the waiting list for a transplant for nearly two years. Her only chance for survival is dialysis, which only replaces a small percentage of renal (kidney) function, or a kidney transplant.

“After Mom died, several of us were tested to find out if we had the disease; I was devastated when mine came back positive,” said Coyle, of Grand Rapids, Mich. “This is a disease that couldn’t be prevented, treated or cured – but 30 years ago I thought they would certainly have a cure by the time my kidneys failed. Now, I worry not only about my own condition and that of my brothers’ – but for all our children who have inherited the disease.”

Yet, in 2009, no treatment or cure is available for the advanced stages of PKD. The ideal option for PKD patients is a transplant from a living donor. However, according to the PKD Foundation and the United Network for Organ Sharing, nearly 80,000 people are the waiting list for a kidney in the United States. In 2008, only 13,743 were lucky enough to receive kidney transplants.

Kidneys are responsible for filtering toxic wastes and impurities from the blood and creating urine, as well as regulating important vitamin and nutrient levels in the body. Humans are born with two kidneys, or 200 percent of the necessary kidney function needed to live a normal life. Following a transplant, both donor and recipient are able to live healthy lives with one kidney. 

Rick Capagrossa, publisher of the Great Lakes Pilot, donated a kidney to one of Coyle’s brothers, Richard O’Brien, in 2006. Both are doing very well.

“Donating a kidney was the best thing I have ever done for someone,” Capagrossa says. “Fortunately, our blood and tissue types were the right matches, so Rich didn’t have to do a long search for a donor. I was back home in Grand Marais from the University of Michigan, where the surgery was done, and coaching the boys’ basketball team within a week. Normally, a donor can return to work in two weeks.”

Despite overall kidney function of less than 10 percent, general fatigue, restless legs syndrome and numerous other health complications related to her failing kidneys, Coyle still works full-time as an editor at a newspaper and tries to live as normal a life as possible.

“I’m a new grandma; I have a wonderful family. I have reasons to fight,” Coyle said. “Several generous people have selflessly offered to donate. To them I am eternally grateful, and I have faith that the right person will match and I’ll get my life back.

"But for my sake, my family’s, and for all who have this disease, I can only hope that more people see kidney donation as an opportunity to save a life and make a lasting difference for families.”