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Cover Story: My Coworker’s Husband

Needed a Kidney Transplant,

So I Volunteered Mine

Continued from page 1
by his doctors that he
needed a kidney trans-
plant.
I asked Claudine what
Junior’s blood type was.
Her answer: O positive.
I’m O positive.
Without even second
guessing, I said that if
Junior and I were a match,
he could have my kidney.
I’m a cautious person.
Yet, even in the moment
when I offered my one
healthy kidney to a total
stranger, I didn’t have my Amy (second from left) and Claudine (far right) with
typical reaction. Instead I Junior (wearing face mask) at a checkup appointment
kept thinking about
Claudine, Junior, and what one week after the transplant operation.
their family had been Now that I’ve experienced the process,
through. Donating my kidney seemed I’m more in tune and hear stories of
like the right thing to do. patients and families who have waited
At VITAS Healthcare, we have corpo- months and years for hearts, livers, kid-
rate values that we live by: “We take care neys, lungs, etc. Maybe I wasn’t listening
of each other” and “I am proud to make before or maybe the universe had to
a difference.” And this couldn’t be truer present the possibility to me so I could
of how we feel about our colleagues – in say “I am proud to make a difference.”
addition to how we serve patients. My wish stemming from this experi-
On January 13, 2020, specialists from ence is that more people have the same
the Memorial Transplant Institute at opportunity. I hope they make a similar
Memorial Hospital in Hollywood, decision to “take care of each other” by
Florida, removed my kidney and trans- donating, whether it’s life-saving bone
planted it to Junior. It started function- marrow, tissue or a major organ.
ing immediately. By doing so, they’re making sure that
A day later, Junior walked into my hos- thousands of other Juniors, who simply
pital room; healthier, happier and com- need the right donor match, can go
pletely overjoyed with his new reality. home to their loved ones to continue liv-
This amazing feat was possible ing productive and healthy lives.
because I had the support to make it By donating a part of myself to some-
happen, an opportunity that presented one else, I gained so much more: a con-
itself, the inner wisdom to agree to a sac- nection between two families in ways
rifice I never would have considered if that only we—and other organ donors
not for Claudine and Junior, the full sup- and recipients—can fully understand.
port of my family and an amazing As Claudine now says when people
healthcare team of transplant specialists. ask how it all happened, her response is
Even though I work in a medical spe- simple: “We really did take care of each
cialty that cares for seriously ill patients other. We truly did.”
and their families at the end-of-life, I had
never before encountered anyone who Amy Guerette, RN, is a hospice
needed an organ transplant and didn’t admissions nurse for VITAS®
really understand the burden it creates Healthcare in Broward County, Florida.
on both the patient and family.

South Florida Hospital News southfloridahospitalnews.com April 2020 9