Ad
Featured
One Albuquerque father gave up a kidney for his daughter
Published
Modified
Jimmy Potter spends most of his free time at soccer games or T-ball with his five grandchildren.
Five years ago, the 60-year-old father of two donated a kidney to his daughter, Sirii Stone, 31.
“On this Father’s Day, I’m forever grateful for the gift he’s given me,” Stone said. “Not just the kidney, but the boundless love and sacrifice that he continually pours out. My dad is my hero. I love watching him play soccer with my girls and enjoy being a grandfather.”
For Potter, the decision was easy. His kid needed a kidney. He was a match.
“I would certainly advocate for being a donor,” Potter said. “To be a living donor, though, my hat’s off to an altruistic donor. I just don’t understand those people. I’m not wired that way. They’re so cool.
“As a living donor, I think in my position, I was able to solve a family issue, and that’s what dads do.”
Stone only had one functioning kidney when she was pregnant with her oldest daughter. Then she developed preeclampsia, a pregnancy complication that comes with high blood pressure and potential organ damage. The condition reduced her kidney function to 25%.
When Stone got pregnant with her second child, she again developed preeclampsia. The doctors treating her said she had a choice: terminate the pregnancy or lose her kidney function. Stone decided to carry the pregnancy to term and had to begin dialysis.
“I slept in her room every night, and on the weekends my wife would come up and stay with her,” Potter said. For 70 days, Stone was in the hospital until her blood pressure couldn’t be managed anymore and her daughter had to be born.
Stone spent another two and a half years on dialysis, which she had to do three days a week for four hours at a time. Kidneys are responsible for filtering blood. Dialysis replicates that function to prolong life for people with kidney failure. Potter said that on dialysis, his daughter always seemed like she had a low-grade flu.
Ad
Stone had to get her lifestyle ready to receive a new kidney and found a transplant team that was a good match for her at Presbyterian.
There are only two hospitals in the state that perform organ transplants: the University of New Mexico Hospital offers kidney transplants and Presbyterian transplants kidneys and pancreases.
Becoming qualified to receive an organ transplant is an extensive process. The hospital considers factors such as the recipient’s financial and mental well-being, past history and home life to make sure they are ready to take care of the gift of a donated organ, Potter said.
Donors are also thoroughly evaluated to make sure their organs are a good match, to ensure they are healthy enough to donate and to make sure the donor has not been unduly pressured, according to Dr. Shelly Wilson, surgical director of kidney transplants at Presbyterian Hospital. Living kidney donors get health screenings and lab work done, as well as imaging of their kidney to see if the anatomy of the kidney is a good fit. That process takes at least a month.
Both living and deceased organ donations can save lives, but there can be some advantages for recipients who get an organ from a living donor. The need for organ donation far outpaces the number of organ donors nationwide, Wilson said.
With a directed donation from a living donor, the recipient can get an organ much faster. The average wait time for a kidney on an organ donation list in the state of New Mexico is three to five years for a deceased donor, Wilson said. In bigger cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco, the wait times can be between eight and 10 years.
Even if the donor and the recipient are not a match, they can do a paired exchange. The donor donates on behalf of a recipient. The donor’s organ goes to someone they are a match with, then the person they wanted to donate to is given an organ from someone they match with.
“If it’s something that people are considering, just reach out to a transplant center that does it,” Wilson said. “Because a lot of people self rule themselves out. They think, ‘Oh, you know, I’m probably not a good candidate,’ and so they don’t even pursue it. I would say that there are a lot of times when they may be a better candidate than they think.”
On March 19, 2019, Stone’s transplant procedure was scheduled. Potter’s left kidney was ready to be removed within an hour, he said. Then Stone was prepped to receive the organ, and finally the kidney was transplanted.
After the transplant, Stone’s new kidney began filtering her blood immediately.
“She goes, ‘I can remember stuff, I hadn’t been able to remember for years,’” Potter said. “And so that toxicity level in her blood, it kind of dimmed down her brain and probably her memory and everything, because you’re just sick all the time.”
A kidney transplant will not be a permanent solution to kidney failure for Stone. Donor kidneys are constantly under attack from the recipient’s body, which is why the recipient takes medication to suppress their immune system. Potter is hopeful that his gift will last Stone 20 to 25 years. On average, kidneys from living donors last 15 to 20 years, while a kidney from a deceased donor typically lasts seven to 10 years, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
During recovery, Potter slept more than he ever had before.
“It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t like a broken leg or a cut. It’s just like somebody was with their knee in your gut, just pressing down. So it was, it wasn’t pain. It was just uncomfortable,” Potter said.
The surgery was on a Wednesday, and Potter was home from the hospital by Sunday. Stone was home by Monday. Potter’s wife and Stone’s mother, Karen Potter, took care of both of them as they recovered from surgery at home. The transplant put Potter’s life on hold for a while, but slowing down gave him some perspective, he said.
“It became apparent that I can relax in that sort of way, not chasing adrenaline or whatever it was,” Potter said.
Within four months, Potter was back to one of his regular activities: jumping out of planes and teaching people how to skydive.
More information on organ donation
