Scott, Astellas "Ride of a Life Time" Winner to be on the 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade Float "Seize the Day"
When Scott Seetin’s mother needed a kidney transplant, he and his brother were the first to volunteer to be a donor.
“The doctor told me I couldn’t donate because I needed a kidney as bad as my mom,” Seetin said.
“I was in shock,” he said. “The thing I was most upset with is that I couldn’t donate to my mom. She gave me life, and then the opportunity came to save hers, and it was pretty heartbreaking.”
It was later that he thought about his own condition. Now he was fighting something that his mom had fought for a long time.
“So we teamed up and fought it side by side,” Scott said. “It was pretty emotional.”
Seetin wrote an essay about his donor experiences, won a contest and was selected to ride on the Donate Life float in the Rose Parade on the morning of Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.
Scott, a 1998 Piper graduate and a 2003 University of Kansas graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in design and visual communications, is a graphic artist with Display Studios.
When he discovered he couldn’t donate a kidney to his mother, Scott told her that his brother Kyle could. At that point, his mother, Sandy Seetin, refused his brother’s offer, saying that Scott would need it, Scott said.
Scott noted that his dad couldn’t be a donor because he was born with only one kidney fully functioning.
Sandy found another willing donor, her sister. But her sister was rejected as a donor because of a problem with an artery.
“Her brother stepped up, and as they were going through it, one hospital did not want to do it,” Scott said.
Scott’s uncle, Don White, is a captain with the Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department, and one hospital thought the job was too stressful to have just one kidney. But the family went to another hospital, where his uncle gave a kidney to his mother on Nov. 13, 2008.
Scott’s brother, Kyle, who works with mapping and drafting for the Board of Public Utilities, gave a kidney to him on Oct. 6, 2009.
After Scott was diagnosed at age 28 with kidney failure, he started blogging about it, posting updates for his family to read.
It was tough continuing to work at his job, where he helps custom-build and design displays and helps set them up. He got tired walking to the mailbox and up stairs, and developed gout.
He couldn’t afford to go on dialysis three times a week, so he went on a modified diet that restricted protein for about a year.
“I was only allowed 3 ounces of protein a day,” he said. “It was hard, since I’m a meat eater. Physically, it drained me.”
But the entire experience brought his family closer together, Scott said. Some of them are going with him to Pasadena to watch the parade from the sidelines. The sponsor of the float is Astellas pharmaceuticals. Scott said the float is an effort to raise awareness for the need for organ donors. There are about 100,000 people on waiting lists now for kidney donations, he said.
It all worked out fine for his family, and everyone is doing well now, Scott said.
“We’re a one-kidney functioning family,” he said. “I was lucky enough to have my brother donate a kidney. This is the best I’ve felt in a long time, since a kid, really.”
Written by Mary Rupert | Wyandotte Daily News
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| How many kidneys do you have? For the Seetin family, the answer is one and three. Scott, second from left, and his mother, Sandy Seetin, received kidneys donated by Kyle Seetin, left and Don White, right. (Photo courtesy of Scott Seetin; background has been altered.) |
When Scott Seetin’s mother needed a kidney transplant, he and his brother were the first to volunteer to be a donor.
But the test results were a shock to the Piper High graduate, now 30 years old.
“The doctor told me I couldn’t donate because I needed a kidney as bad as my mom,” Seetin said.
“I was in shock,” he said. “The thing I was most upset with is that I couldn’t donate to my mom. She gave me life, and then the opportunity came to save hers, and it was pretty heartbreaking.”
It was later that he thought about his own condition. Now he was fighting something that his mom had fought for a long time.
“So we teamed up and fought it side by side,” Scott said. “It was pretty emotional.”
Seetin wrote an essay about his donor experiences, won a contest and was selected to ride on the Donate Life float in the Rose Parade on the morning of Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.
Scott, a 1998 Piper graduate and a 2003 University of Kansas graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in design and visual communications, is a graphic artist with Display Studios.
When he discovered he couldn’t donate a kidney to his mother, Scott told her that his brother Kyle could. At that point, his mother, Sandy Seetin, refused his brother’s offer, saying that Scott would need it, Scott said.
Scott noted that his dad couldn’t be a donor because he was born with only one kidney fully functioning.
Sandy found another willing donor, her sister. But her sister was rejected as a donor because of a problem with an artery.
“Her brother stepped up, and as they were going through it, one hospital did not want to do it,” Scott said.
Scott’s uncle, Don White, is a captain with the Kansas City, Kansas, Fire Department, and one hospital thought the job was too stressful to have just one kidney. But the family went to another hospital, where his uncle gave a kidney to his mother on Nov. 13, 2008.
Scott’s brother, Kyle, who works with mapping and drafting for the Board of Public Utilities, gave a kidney to him on Oct. 6, 2009.
After Scott was diagnosed at age 28 with kidney failure, he started blogging about it, posting updates for his family to read.
It was tough continuing to work at his job, where he helps custom-build and design displays and helps set them up. He got tired walking to the mailbox and up stairs, and developed gout.
He couldn’t afford to go on dialysis three times a week, so he went on a modified diet that restricted protein for about a year.
“I was only allowed 3 ounces of protein a day,” he said. “It was hard, since I’m a meat eater. Physically, it drained me.”
But the entire experience brought his family closer together, Scott said. Some of them are going with him to Pasadena to watch the parade from the sidelines. The sponsor of the float is Astellas pharmaceuticals. Scott said the float is an effort to raise awareness for the need for organ donors. There are about 100,000 people on waiting lists now for kidney donations, he said.
It all worked out fine for his family, and everyone is doing well now, Scott said.
“We’re a one-kidney functioning family,” he said. “I was lucky enough to have my brother donate a kidney. This is the best I’ve felt in a long time, since a kid, really.”
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