MARION -- The decision to be an organ donor can impact so many lives. According to figures from the state of Illinois, one donor can help more than 25 people. For one Marion woman, a healthy kidney was the key to a normal life.
"It was probably in February of 2005. I was feeling kind of sick and run down," says Brenda Dreyer of Marion.
Infections, cysts, and kidney stones were all explanations. From there, doctors did blood tests and determined Brenda had kidney disease. She says she was in renal failure in less than a month. Doctors said both kidneys were affected.
"I almost felt like I was watching it all happen- like- snap out of it," Brenda remembers.
Soon, Brenda got on the waiting list for a transplant. She says sometimes she wondered if time was running out.
"I told God- if this is what is to be, I will accept that. It seemed like it wasn't very long after that, I got the phone call."
After waiting for two years, it was the call that changed everything. Brenda learned she was a candidate for a transplant, and then, that she was a match. Brenda calls it a miracle, and local medical professionals say these miracles could happen more often if people would join the state's organ donor registry.
According to the organization Donate Life Illinois, while almost 90% of adults in the state think registering as an organ donor is the right thing to do, only 60% have actually signed up. It takes only minutes at the local DMV, or you can do it online at DonateLifeIllinois.org.
Marg Fletcher with Heartland Regional Medical Center says it could cut the time people like Brenda spend waiting for a match.
"Waiting for kidneys are- years. Major organs- you're waiting years. And their quality of life declines everyday that they're without," says Fletcher.
Now life is back to normal for Brenda, and the experience has come full circle. A year after her transplant, she traveled to New York to meet Denise, the wife of Bryan Forrest. He was killed in a motorcycle accident- and now Brenda has his kidney.
Brenda and Denise have become like family, staying in touch on a daily basis.
"If I was in a situation where I was leaving this world and there was no hope for me, I would want to touch as many lives as I could- and Brian did," says Denise.
He shows us all how to be a hero- by giving life to someone else.
"Life does go on, and I'm blessed," Brenda says.
"It was probably in February of 2005. I was feeling kind of sick and run down," says Brenda Dreyer of Marion.
Infections, cysts, and kidney stones were all explanations. From there, doctors did blood tests and determined Brenda had kidney disease. She says she was in renal failure in less than a month. Doctors said both kidneys were affected.
"I almost felt like I was watching it all happen- like- snap out of it," Brenda remembers.
Soon, Brenda got on the waiting list for a transplant. She says sometimes she wondered if time was running out.
"I told God- if this is what is to be, I will accept that. It seemed like it wasn't very long after that, I got the phone call."
After waiting for two years, it was the call that changed everything. Brenda learned she was a candidate for a transplant, and then, that she was a match. Brenda calls it a miracle, and local medical professionals say these miracles could happen more often if people would join the state's organ donor registry.
According to the organization Donate Life Illinois, while almost 90% of adults in the state think registering as an organ donor is the right thing to do, only 60% have actually signed up. It takes only minutes at the local DMV, or you can do it online at DonateLifeIllinois.org.
Marg Fletcher with Heartland Regional Medical Center says it could cut the time people like Brenda spend waiting for a match.
"Waiting for kidneys are- years. Major organs- you're waiting years. And their quality of life declines everyday that they're without," says Fletcher.
Now life is back to normal for Brenda, and the experience has come full circle. A year after her transplant, she traveled to New York to meet Denise, the wife of Bryan Forrest. He was killed in a motorcycle accident- and now Brenda has his kidney.
Brenda and Denise have become like family, staying in touch on a daily basis.
"If I was in a situation where I was leaving this world and there was no hope for me, I would want to touch as many lives as I could- and Brian did," says Denise.
He shows us all how to be a hero- by giving life to someone else.
"Life does go on, and I'm blessed," Brenda says.
Please take the time to visit Donate Life Illinois
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