A new kidney, a new life
Kaitlyn Slama (left) and her mother, Carolyn Arnold (right), both participated in a kidney-sharing program after Arnold needed to receive a kidney transplant. (Submitted photo)
Mother, daughter participate in kidney sharing program
By Steve Van Kooten
Last year, Kaitlyn Slama and her mother, Carolyn Arnold, went into surgery on the same day. For both, it was the culmination of months of testing, preparing and waiting.
Early in the morning, Slama had one of her kidneys removed, and by that afternoon, Arnold had a working kidney filtering her blood, regulating her blood pressure and making red blood cells.
“Progressively, my kidneys were starting to fail,” said Arnold. “It got to the point where they knew I needed a kidney.”
Arnold was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in the mid-1990s after doctors discovered cysts on her brother’s kidney during a CT scan. Between her and her eight siblings, six of them had PKD, which can lead to kidney failure.
PKD can affect people in different ways. Some will never need treatment, while others can experience severe symptoms quicker than others; Arnold and her brother are the youngest siblings, but, as of now, they are the only ones who have needed transplants.
By the end of 2022, Arnold knew she would have to either go on dialysis or get a transplant. The latter can take years to find a matching donor and get the procedure approved. For many people, it never happens. Arnold did not have a wide pool of candidates because many of her family members had the same condition.
Slama immediately went online and applied to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., hoping to get through the process before her mother had to start dialysis.
“When she found out her levels were low enough to get a transplant, she told us,” said Slama. “I had several appointments discussing my health history, and they needed to be sure I wanted to do it because it’s an elective surgery.”
According to Slama, the vetting process was extensive; she had to go through two days of appointments to see if she could even be a donor.
“The doctors told me it will probably be the most thorough exam I’ll ever get,” she said. “They tested everything physically besides my brain.”
The doctors determined Slama could donate her kidney, but they encountered a new problem.
“We found out I wasn’t a match,” said Slama. “My blood type wasn’t even the same as hers, so I found out pretty quickly. It was a bit devastating because I knew my mom’s kidneys were failing. When I found out we weren’t a match, I thought it might take longer.”
It’s not unusual for family members to be incompatible, and Mayo offered a solution.
“When they found out we weren’t a match, they put us in a sharing program,” said Arnold.
A paired kidney donation, or kidney exchange, allows donors to give a kidney to someone in the program and, in turn, it helps find a compatible donor for another person, such as a parent or other loved one of the donor. It creates a connected network for people in need of a transplant to locate a matching donor.
Slama decided to donate her kidney to another person so that her mother could receive one. Unfortunately, like many important things in life, Arnold had to wait. But the wait paid off, and they had their surgeries on July 19, 2023.
“It didn’t seem like it moved that quickly, but it really did in the grand scheme of things,” said Arnold.
There is a point in every parent’s life when, after spending years caring for and raising children, they need to let their kids take care of them for the first time. That moment may have come just a bit too soon for Arnold.
“I had a hard time dealing with that,” said Arnold. “It was difficult for me to do that reversal. That was the hardest thing because I’m supposed to be the care provider, and now I have to rely on her.”
And she acknowledged that without her daughter pushing forward through every obstacle, it might not have been possible.
“She never said she wanted to stop, and she was persistent about moving forward.”
On the day of surgery, Arnold did not see her daughter before her procedure because their operations were scheduled so close together.
“I was there in the waiting room when the doctor told me her surgery was over,” she said. “Shortly after that, I had to check in, and I didn’t see her until after my surgery.”
“As I was being carted out of surgery, my kidney was on a plane to Washington State, and my mom was being taken in,” said Slama.
A year later, Slama and Arnold have mostly recovered and resumed their day-to-day lives.
“I had plenty of friends and family members to help me out,” said Slama. “Now, there’s no difference in my health at all, really.”
Arnold has made adjustments to her lifestyle since she received her new kidney. She has to take anti-rejection medication for the rest of her life, and there are some activities she can only do on a limited basis.
“The biggest change for me is avoiding the sun because of the anti-rejection medication,” she said. “I loved the sun. I loved getting a tan, and now it’s sunscreen and avoiding the sunlight. But that’s a small sacrifice to make for a new kidney and a new life.”
Organ donation
Slama and her mother are raising awareness about the kidney exchange program and organ donation.
“I didn’t know very much about it until it became necessary for me to do it, and I don’t think many people know much about it,” said Slama.
The National Kidney Registry facilitates both non-direct and direct donations. To date, the registry has assisted in over 9,000 transplants by providing patient resources to locate donors, match donors to recipients and provide assistance through the transplant and search process. The registry also provides vouchers for family members.
If you are considering becoming a donor or want to learn more, contact kidneyregistry.com/about/contact-us.
