Hills kidney recipient tees up for Transplant Games
BY JULIE BROWN • OBSERVER STAFF WRITER
She'll participate in her favorite sport of golf in the U.S. Transplant Games July 30 to Aug. 4, hosted by the National Kidney Foundation.
“It's actually where I got my transplant,” Stella said of the University of Wisconsin-Madison hospital where she received a kidney in 2009.
Stella was born with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, as were several of her family members, and began feeling sick as a Mercy High School senior in 2007. She went to Botsford Hospital because of pain from a urinary tract infection, and discovered her kidneys were failing.
“My mom was really upset. She started crying. I didn't really know what to think,” Stella said. She's since become active in promoting organ donation efforts and hopes to work in transplant nursing.
RAISING AWARENESS
“I'm more active in supporting transplants. There's not a lot of education in Michigan. I'm more proactive with raising awareness about organ donation,” she said.
There's a lot of misinformation, “especially in Michigan.” Donors will be able to have children, she stressed, and can live just fine with one kidney.
This weekend, she's doing a walk to raise awareness for organ donation in Michigan on Belle Isle in Detroit.
With more energy, her grades have improved at Wayne State University, where she's a senior in nursing, and her health is good.
Stella takes several anti-rejection drugs in the morning and evening, and does well. Following her diagnosis, she had less energy for favorites like golf and volleyball, and her college grades began to drop. In July 2009, she began having peritoneal dialysis.
Things improved considerably Oct. 15, 2009, when Stella received a kidney transplant from a deceased donor. Part of her celebration is attending the Games in Madison, an athletic-style sporting event for recipients of major organ and bone marrow transplants. More than 1,500 athletes are expected, with more than 50 from Team Michigan.
“I've been out practicing,” she said. The event is competitive with gold, silver and bronze medals, but Stella won't mind if she doesn't medal.
“Probably just to have a good time. I'm not really that good of a golfer. There are probably a lot of people better than me.”
She doesn't know the family whose loved one provided her kidney, but is thankful to them.
She will attend the Transplant Games with parents Steve and Anne and boyfriend Steve Stadler. The biannual event is held to increase awareness of the need for and success of organ donation and transplantation.
Stella gives thanks to her parents. Steve's an attorney, Anne an art teacher in the Wayne-Westland schools. “They're a really good support system. They've been there the whole time,” she said.
Contributions to the U.S. Transplant Games may be made by calling the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan at (800) 482-1455.
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