Episode 74: The Incredible Journey Of Receiving A Kidney

Apr 25 2023 • 44 mins

On this episode of This Thing Called Life, Andi is going to talk to Marty and Bonnie Garneret. Bonnie is not only Marty’s wife but his kidney champion also. Marty and his wife have been married for 41 years this month, and he says that has married an angel without wings. He shares his special journey; You don’t want to miss it!

Episode Highlights:

There are two types of diabetes, type one, which you are born with, and in that, your body does not produce any insulin, so you are on insulin shots from the time you are born. The second type comes from heredity, bad eating, lack of exercise, or all the bad stuff you do - lifestyle factors.
If the doctor says you are prediabetic, that means your sugar is running high regularly, and it is destroying your body. So, you need to get to a specialist or endocrinologist.
It is not a disease to be taken lightly because it leads to chronic kidney disease, which Marty has. If you don’t pay enough attention to it, then you are graded on a scale of stage one to stage five transplant material, and that is where Marty is at 70 years of age.
When you first start out with kidney disease, you are one of about 100 to 150,000 people on a list of possible recipients. Marty is lucky enough to meet a gal named Darcy Gibson, who has a foundation, a charitable organization, called Off The List, inc.
To go through initial testing is a rigorous process. There are three different people you meet with. One is a social worker to check your mental capacity, the second is a nutritionist to manage your diet, and the third is a team of doctors and nurses that help you through tests.
To get off the list, you have to receive a donor’s kidney, and Bonnie has done this through Facebook, through yard signs, emails, and extensive, unbelievable work this woman has done on Marty’s behalf.
The list that Marty is talking about is a list to receive a deceased donor kidney. To get a living donor kidney, you must find someone willing to donate, a friend, a relative, or just a generous donor, and it is tough.
It is a completely anonymous process, as someone is tested on your behalf. You would never know that because hospitals take that very seriously, and they want to ensure that the person who is doing this wants to do it for the right reasons and that there is no sense of pressure.
Bonnie decided that UPPO would be perfect because people would have to ask a question and start the conversation. What is UPPO, or who is UPPO? Life for UPPO is a Facebook page, and we are working with Christ Hospital, and Trisha is the donor coordinator.
The typical diabetic signs that Marty paid no attention to was he slept 12 hours and felt like he didn’t sleep 5 minutes. He drank unbelievable amounts of liquid, whether it be coffee, pop, water, and he lost a lot of weight.
The diet you have to be on when looking for a kidney is extremely difficult. There are many things to avoid and take care of.
There are two categories of people when it comes to the conversation about being a living donor. We need to do a better job of filling the gap of information and helping people understand this is something they can do.
Children’s hospitals prefer to give it to children, and they should. But if something happened and there aren’t any children who would need it, then the adult on that list would receive a kidney.
One of Marty’s dreams has always been that he would like to start in Maine and eat lobster all the way down the East Coast until they have to get an oversized bus to take him home.
Marty looks good on the outside, but he’s not good on the inside, and that's what a lot of people don’t understand because he looks great. But they don’t understand that the kidney function is still going down, and you can’t see that.
If people understood how grateful recipients were, it would cause a lot more people to donate because they are heroes and become angels without wings.
Bonnie has read a lot on the national kidney Instagram page and other places that donors live longer than people who have not donated.

3 Key Points:

Marty and Bonnie tell the listeners about the Facebook page they set up for people. The Facebook page is called life for UPPO. UPPO is Marty just because their oldest grandson when he was very young, can’t say Grandpa, and he came out with UPPO.
Marty doesn’t think people understand how serious this disease is, and it will kill you. Many thousands of people die every day from kidney failure, and several things work against you.
Marty and Bonnie talk about the misconception surrounding kidney donation.

Resources Mentioned: