VA Employee Connected Through Life
Some people give the shirt off their back for friends and family, but Jennifer Vernig went a little further.
When her brother-in-law, Jerry, suffered from polycystic kidney disease (PKD), the Madison VA employee donated one of her kidneys to assure he lived a longer, healthier life.
“I knew our blood types were a match, which is the first step of finding a good donor,” Vernig shared. “I offered to donate early in the process, but he was afraid something bad would happen to me and told me ‘no.’”
PKD wasn’t new to the family. Several of Jerry’s family members suffer from the genetic disease and he is one of three siblings forced to have a kidney transplant.
“When dialysis was getting closer, I called the UW Health transplant team and told them I wanted to be Jerry's donor.”
After several tests, evaluations and approvals, the day was set: May 19, 2016.
“Jerry, his wife and I all have birthdays around that date, so May is a big month to celebrate in our family.”
Although the surgery was shorter than planned, it wasn’t without recovery. Donors often feel worse following the surgery since they are going from two functional kidneys to one, so the body must learn how to function accordingly.
“Jerry immediately felt better and was zooming around the transplant floor. He walked to see me the day of surgery. UW intentionally put us at opposite ends of the floor so we would walk to visit each other. After a few weeks, it was like nothing had happened.”
February 14th is National Donor Day, so you’ll have to excuse Vernig if her celebration on that day each year has nothing to do with valentines, cupid or material items.
“Given the chance, I'd do it all over again. There are no words to describe giving someone you care about a better quality of life.”
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For information about being a living donor, visit: www.myast.org/living-donor-toolkit.
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