Friends planning benefit for Oct. 4
Fifteen years ago Karen Renslow made what she said was an easy decision. Her older brother Chuck was very sick with kidney disease and needed a transplant. “I didn’t even think about it. As soon as he told me he needed a kidney, I said ‘I want to be tested,’” she recalls.
She went through a barrage of tests and all the results were satisfactory. She left her three young children in the care of her husband Mike and other relatives, and she gave one of her kidneys to her brother.
And her life went on. Her two sons have graduated from high school, and her daughter is a senior this year. Karen works fulltime as a hairdresser at Headmasters in Jefferson. She’s been healthy.
The kidney she gave her brother did well for 8-1/2 years; it eventually failed, and he’s on dialysis. Still, Karen’s remaining kidney worked.
That didn’t last.
Two years ago Karen was walking several miles a day for fitness, in addition to being on her feet all day working. She said she started having pain in her toe. It was diagnosed as gout. Other tests showed her kidney function wasn’t adequate. She was referred to a nephrologist in Des Moines, and it was that doctor that gave her the unexpected news. She has the same kidney disease her brother has.
The doctor projected that in five to 10 years she’d need a transplant. Her lone kidney has failed faster than that. She needs a transplant herself, and she needs it soon. Dialysis might be an option, but because she is a previous donor, she will go quickly to the top of the transplant list.
Karen and Chuck aren’t the only ones in the family with the disease, which still hasn’t been specifically identified. Three other relatives have needed kidney transplants; she will be the fifth in the clan to receive someone else’s kidney.
Because of the family history, Karen isn’t desiring a kidney from a live donor. That would be more convenient; she’d be able to plan when the surgery would be done. “Without knowing what else might come, I don’t want to take someone’s kidney,” she said. “Without knowing what the disease is, I just don’t want to do that.”
So, she’s on a day-to-day basis waiting for the phone to ring with news there’s a suitable cadaver kidney. She is still scheduling appointments for her clients, but they all know her situation. There won’t be a surprise when Karen is gone from work.
As a hairdresser, Karen is self-employed. Hairdressers don’t have paid sick leave or paid time off. The Renslows have health insurance that will cover most of the medical costs, but she’ll have no income for the time it takes to recuperate, which may be as short as four weeks or as long as 12 weeks. The cost of the anti-rejection medication is “astronomical,” she says, even with health insurance. She’ll need to take that the rest of her life.
So, to ease the financial stress while Karen recuperates after the surgery, friends and clients are planning a benefit Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Elks lodge in Jefferson. A free will donation will be accepted for a spaghetti supper from 5 to 7 pm. A friend has donated a whole hog and processing; that’s being raffled.
Bidding on items up for silent auction will start at 5 and end at 8 pm. Watch for information about auction items. Persons who would like to donate items can drop them off at Headmasters in the Lincoln Building on the south side of the courthouse square, or call Brenda Wood at 515-386-8331 or 515-391-9996, Tiffany Johnson at 515-370-2920, Danenne Pena at 515-370-2992, or Tori Riley at 515-370-3087.
T-shirts are available on an order basis at Muir Embroidery in Jefferson through Sept. 20. The slogan on the shirt is appropriate in many situations.
There is also a fund established for Karen at Peoples Trust & Savings Bank. Donations can be taken to any PTSB office.
Despite all of the uncertainty, Karen is upbeat. “The good thing is, I’m healthy. Other than the kidney stuff, I’m good,” she said. And about donating a kidney to her brother, she said she was 100 percent, absolutely sure she’d do it again. “He was so sick, and now he’s had all these good years. Absolutely. I’d do it again.”
