Duke Staff Member Finds Peace through Kidney Donation

On a sunny afternoon in June 2021, Linda Luna Kress sat on the patio of a Starbucks in Brier Creek, ready for a pal, Brie Russell. The pair had solely recognized one another for a number of months and by no means met in individual, solely corresponding by textual content messages.

However the bond the 2 shared was a uniquely shut one.

Seven months earlier, Russell, a 42-year-old mom of three, donated one in every of her kidneys to Kress, a lady she didn’t know. For Kress, a 62-year-old grandmother, the transplant saved her life, permitting her physique to not depend on a pair of quickly failing kidneys. And for Russell, the senior director for Alumni and Regional Engagement within the Duke Health Office of Development and Alumni Affairs, the gesture helped her obtain a level of psychological and emotional well-being.

“I assumed that if I will help a household and prolong a life, that’s one thing that I can do to make a optimistic affect,” Russell stated. “I can’t repair so many issues. However I can nonetheless have an effect.”

In line with estimates from the Nationwide Kidney Basis, there are normally round 100,000 Individuals ready on kidney transplants. Kress had been looking for one for roughly a 12 months. So Russell’s determination represented an answered prayer. And for Russell it was an necessary step in her personal therapeutic journey.

Searching for Peace

Like many individuals, the COVID-19 pandemic left Brie Russell feeling powerless.

Russell had all the time labored to steadiness the wants of her job, household and personal psychological well-being, however doing that amid a pandemic that derailed life and widened society’s divisions left her feeling overwhelmed.

She tried to decrease her nervousness and concern throughout quarantine by contributing to the efforts of the Durham Public Schools Foundation and volunteering with group vaccination efforts. 

In the summertime of 2020, she found how she might create her personal dose of therapeutic power. With the speed of kidney transplants slowing down dramatically throughout the pandemic – one examine confirmed kidney transplants had been down 19 % within the 9 months after the pandemic started – Russell determined that donating a kidney would possibly present twofold therapeutic.

“Perhaps that will be one other layer of therapeutic I wanted to assist me discover that peace I used to be on the lookout for,” Russell stated.

She reached out to Duke’s Kidney Transplant Program and went by bodily and psychological evaluations earlier than scheduling her donation surgical procedure for December 3, 2020. 

The subsequent step was to seek out the one that wanted a kidney.

Looking for a Miracle

Identified with Kind 1 diabetes at 38, Linda Luna Kress, who spent 20 years within the Military and retired as a primary sergeant in 1997, didn’t let it gradual her down. The Raleigh resident loved spending time together with her husband, her two grownup daughters and her 4 grandsons, typically taking care of them throughout the day and shuttling them to soccer practices, swim meets and tae kwon do lessons.

In late 2019, together with her kidney perform declining, docs informed Kress she wanted a transplant.

No person in Kress’ household or circle of buddies was a match, in order that they took their search public, making pleas on social media, putting yards indicators of their neighborhood, adorning their automobiles with decals and printing 160 T-shirts, which they distributed to buddies. In every single place, the message, which was proven with an e-mail handle folks might contact, was the identical: “Kidney Donor Wanted. Share Your Spare.”

As months glided by, the search got here up empty. In the meantime, with the COVID-19 pandemic conserving Kress, who had a weakened immune system, away from her household, her spirits – and her well being – started to weaken.

“I used to be within the Military for 20 years, so I felt like issues don’t have an effect on me the way in which they have an effect on different folks,” Kress stated. “I assumed that I might push by something. I used to be actually sturdy by every part till the pandemic hit.”

Over a Thanksgiving weekend with out her youngsters and grandchildren, Kress started to course of the fact of maybe not discovering a kidney in time.

“I assumed, I can’t hold doing this,” she stated. “I assumed, ‘I’m finished.’”

A Uncommon Connection

On the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2020, Kress received the decision she’d been craving for. Medical doctors informed her that they’d discovered a kidney that matched hers. Her surgical procedure can be on Thursday, December 3, at Duke College Hospital.

That Thursday morning, each Russell and Kress had been pushed to Duke College Hospital by their husbands.

Russell was calm. She knew she was going to have surgical procedure to take away her left kidney in a number of hours, and that, if all went as deliberate, it could quickly be in another person’s physique. However she had no thought who that recipient was. She recalled keeping track of a winter storm that was growing within the Midwest, worrying that ought to her kidney be sure for somebody a number of states away, the dangerous climate might delay journey.

She had no means of realizing that her recipient was Kress, who was antsy and excited as she arrived.

“Often when somebody like Brie comes ahead, we’re transport the kidney off to Michigan, or Florida, or Virginia,” stated Emily Moore, transplant coordinator with Duke College Hospital. “It’s not traditional for a Duke nameless donor to be giving to a Duke recipient. That’s actually unimaginable.”

The 2 girls’s surgical procedures occurred in adjoining working rooms. Round 90 minutes after being taken out of Russell, the kidney was positioned into Kress. A couple of hours later, each girls had been recovering in several rooms in the identical ward of Duke College Hospital. And earlier than lengthy, they had been each headed residence.

Kress might inform straight away that her kidney perform had improved. She felt spry sufficient that docs warned her to not do an excessive amount of too rapidly. Russell, in the meantime, spent the subsequent few weeks resting at residence, together with her husband and daughters ensuring she was taking her treatment and doing bodily remedy.

“Actually, since this time,” stated Russell, “I’ve targeted on taking good care of myself for the primary time in a extremely very long time, simply ensuring that I get the remainder I want. It’s humorous, working with one kidney, you’d suppose that wouldn’t be the case, however I really feel a lot stronger.”

A Robust Connection

As Kress recovered from her transplant surgical procedure, she requested her docs if they might inform her something about her kidney donor. She didn’t know that the donor was a in a room a number of doorways down.

For non-directed kidney donations, privateness guidelines imply the donors and recipients can solely be taught each other’s identities in the event that they each conform to disclose the knowledge.                                                                                    

It was round April of this 12 months when Kress heard from a transplant coordinator that Russell wished to alternate contact info. As soon as she had Russell’s telephone quantity in hand, Kress despatched off a textual content saying who she was, that she’s a mom of two and grandmother of 4, and that she’s grateful for Russell’s donation.

“You gave me my life again,” Kress wrote.

That textual content started a flurry of messages and calls. Images of kids had been shared. So too had been lengthy tales about their lives, what led to their transplant, and what they’ve been doing since.

Lastly, in June, as soon as each girls had been absolutely vaccinated, they deliberate to fulfill on the Brier Creek Starbucks.

Russell remembers breaking down in tears as quickly as she received within the automobile for the drive over. As she waited, an excited Kress informed a pair of strangers sitting close by on the patio what she was there for. She couldn’t hold it to herself. The strangers determined to stay round, and one agreed to document cellphone video of the second when Russell arrived.

The 39-second video begins with Kress recognizing Russell, who darts towards her and swallows her up in a tearful embrace.

“Thanks for saving my life,’ Kress tells Russell.

The earlier summer time, Kress was racing towards time in a irritating seek for the one factor that would save her life, whereas Russell was struggling to really feel entire whereas residing in a difficult time.

However for the subsequent few hours, each girls sat within the afternoon solar, sharing how blissful they had been, how wholesome they felt and the way grateful they had been to be there, collectively.

“It was a extremely good day for each of us,” Russell stated. “We’re each part of one another’s therapeutic in several methods. I am so grateful. I really feel like I acquired a lot from her.” 

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