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[MUSIC]
Mary, she's an extraordinary person.
Every time she comes up she brings, you know, a king
cake or some sort of nostalgic item from New Orleans,
where she comes from, and shares that with us.
She always sends us beads and everything Mardi Gras
to the whole floor, to the whole transplant unit.
She expresses her gratitude and her love for
people in a very open and gorgeous way.
>> Alright Mary, tell us how you feel today.
>> I feel very excited and very blessed.
I'm gonna get a new kidney and it's, I'm so grateful to God and I'm
so grateful to Susan because if it weren't
for Susan, I wouldn't be getting this kidney.
Pan to Susan [LAUGH].
This is Susan.
Wave hello.
[MUSIC]
>> I've been married for probably about a year and a half.
And I'd worked in another part of the pharmacy.
It was at a time that, my mother had just passed
away, probably six months prior to coming to work in here.
I had always known that Mary had PKD, but it was getting to the
point where she had found out, she was gonna have to go, on dialysis.
>> My creatinine had risen that much and my function was so down.
And I was starting to display symptoms, tiredness, cramping just overall and I
was on the list at Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans to receive a kidney transplant.
They after running my blood and testing it they told me it
would be at least six years before they found me a kidney.
>> Currently there are about 100,000 people
who are waiting for a kidney transplant.
This year, only about a fifth of those people will receive a transplant.
There's about a 35% chance that, when you go onto the
list, that you're not gonna live long enough to receive a transplant.
>> I sounded hopeless over the phone.
Isn't there anything else you can do?
The nurse said that he had been to a lecture of doctor Montgomery's in Hopkins,
had a program where they could take the
antibodies out of your blood, process called plasmapheresis.
Immediately after, I started researching this, got on the phone, called Hopkins,
she sent me the package, and that's how the whole process started.
You two ought order more 25s on Monday cuz I'm leaving at noon.
>> Yeah, we're gonna need them.
>> We got the call that said Hopkins came back and said that I was not a
close enough match for Mary to get my kidney,
but that I could still donate on her behalf.
>> There are a large number of patients who have
a willing donor, who wants to give them a kidney,
but can't because of an incompatibility and there're, there're
essential two types of incompatibilities either by blood or by tissue.
And the, the pair donation or the swap
allows those donors to fulfil their desire to
give a kidney.
Not necessarily to their loved one, but to
ensure that their loved one receives a kidney.
>> I was told we would wait for a match.
And Susan would have to give her kidney so that I was going to get a kidney.
>> Most of the swaps now are done as, as what we call chains.
And the chains are started by someone who just comes forward
and says, I wanna donate my kidney to anyone who needs it.
So this person doesn't have a designated recipient.
And so that person gives to a person who has an incompatible donor.
And then that donor gives to another person,
and you can imagine how this chain unfolds.
>> Right before Christmas they called, and they told me they
had an altruistic donor, who was willing to give a kidney.
He was a male, and we would be able to do this in February.
And that's all I knew about my donor.
Well, after surgery, he wanted to meet me and I wanted to meet him.
And it was wonderful meeting him.
Since then he's like my brother he calls me sis,
I call him bro he came to my daughter's wedding.
This is Julianne and Susan.
These two gave me the gift of life, so we thought it
was only appropriate that they bring up the offertory gifts at the wedding.
Whenever we go up to Baltimore, we always get together.
He took us out to eat crab cakes, and he is such a
selfless, wonderful young man, and I'm so glad to have him in my life.
>> Some of these relationships have become very durable.
And people have become really close friends over the years.
And this, you know, certainly is true of Mary and her donor.
And her intended donor.
All three of them.
>> We do everything together, everything.
>> They were over here New Years Eve, oh, we go
to lunch together just about every day that we work together.
We go into the Mardi Gras Ball together in just a few weeks.
We went last year.
This year I'll be able to dance, because I have a new kidney and more energy.
>> It's, it's just heartwarming and beautiful to, you
know, witness have the privilege of witnessing that sort of,
great moment in, in the human experience.
>> Most definitely, if I could regrow a kidney every two years, I would donate.
The experience was fine.
It was not hard at all.
I was in the hospital four days.
The care I received was excellent.
The nurses were so caring, so professional.
I''ve been telling everybody if I ever
need another surgery, I'm going to Hopkins.
[LAUGH] I'm not staying here.
They're just the treat you with care, with respect.
it, it's just, from the moment you walk in, the way
they greet you at the door, and everybody is so incredibly helpful.
>> What a hero she is because she never wavered in this decision.
She was the strongest person I've ever seen, and I love her so much.
I say that she gave me a kidney and I gave her my heart.
>> She's one of these people that, you know, for me and, and what I do,
it, it really sort of crystallizes the, you know, the humility
of being able to help these people who are such amazing people
get their lives back and get their health back.
>> Okay tomorrow night we're going to.
>> My husband said post transplant I got the Mary back that I married.
I was so full of energy when I got back home from transplant.
I woke up at three o'clock in the morning and cleaned out my kitchen cabinets.
>> Oh, I would.
I would do, I would do anything for Mary.
>> Anything for you.
>> And her, and her family.
>> And I feel the same about your family.
>> I know you do.
>> I would do anything for you.
I'd give you the world, I would.
>> I know you would.
>> You know what?
I'm gonna say it on camera, I'd give you a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer.
>> You heard that.
[LAUGH] >> But I have to give her one now.
[LAUGH]
[MUSIC]