An Inside Look at Kidney Donation and Transplant
April is National Donate Life Month, a reminder to the importance of registering to become a living donor while also celebrating those who have given the greatest gift. It's estimated that more than 100,000 Americans are still waiting for a lifesaving kidney transplant and programs like the National Kidney Registry continue to help patients find viable donor matches and give them the chance for a successful transplant. One of those patients was Avera Family Medicine Physician, Dr. Jenna Wickersham, who's family rallied behind her and help find a non-direct way to get her the kidney she needed.
If you live in the Pierre area, you might know Dr. Jenna Wickersham as a family medicine physician. But what you might not know is that she's also the face of polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder she discovered when she was 17.
“There's really no treatment or prevention for it other than controlling your blood pressure. So I've been on blood pressure medications since I was a teenager,” said Dr. Wickersham.
The disease traces back to Jenna’s grandmother. Of her nine children, six had the condition with five undergoing transplants.
“It's just always kind of been a thing in our family. We joke about it. We're a little bit cavalier about it,” said Brooks Hughes.
“Her first three kids and the last three kids have polycystic kidney disease, the middle three don't. So they joke that they were born for spare parts. And then I'm the first one of the next generation to have it,” said Dr. Wickersham.
“It's a different kind of a kidney disease, where the kidneys actually keep growing gradually but at the same time are also being gradually damaged. She was getting to the point where not only are the kidneys getting big, but they're not any better than what they were and she was approaching dialysis,” said Dr. Sujit Sakpal, an Avera Transplant Surgeon.
“I was just tired and like, oh, I don't know how long I can go on working every day and still functioning,” said Dr. Wickersham.
Jenna's time was running out, so her transplant team began looking for a match.
“So that same day, my husband and my sister Brooks went on and filled out the information,” said Dr. Wickersham.
Brooks kidney was a good match for another patient. And with that donation, she started a chain through the National Kidney Registry that brought a matching kidney back to Jenna.
“I feel like I got a two for one, because that person got a kidney and then Jenna got a kidney,” said Hughes.
“Doctors told me that there were like four or six surgeries going on the day of mine that were all related to her (Brooks) surgery in March. I feel like I was remarkably calm that day when I checked in and, you know, I kind of knew what to expect that they were going to do labs and an EKG and the whole team was going to come visit me. And then we got downstairs and they whisked me right in there,” said Dr. Wickersham.
“And once the organ is here, we actually assess the organ and if everything's good to go, you know, that's where the transplant starts. The first part of the operation is exposing vascular targets, which is an artery and the vein for us to implant the organ. That's when we bring the organ from the back table and then implant these organs. And literally, it's sewing an artery to an artery and a vein to a vein. As soon as we open up the arterial inflow, it just turns pink and over time becomes nice and pink, and then the ureter starts making urine. You know, it's a joyous moment and it's a great feeling every time we do that for every patient. It's just a great feeling,” said Dr. Sakpal.
“I feel like it was a little surreal at first, like I have somebody else's kidney inside of me that's functioning, you know, And it's just like still hard to believe sometimes,” said Dr. Wickersham.
“You know, when you see these patients not suffer anymore, have a viable organ transplant and how well they do, it couldn’t be more rewarding that,” said Dr. Sakpal.
