My name is Gerry Trilling, and recently I learned that my genetic kidney disease (polycystic kidney disease-PKD) has progressed.
I need a kidney transplant. More than 100,000 people nationwide need a kidney, too. This means there is a wait time of approximately four years to get a kidney. We have been advised by the transplant team that the best option for me is to find a living donor to shorten that wait time. This article is my first outreach to find the special person who will be my donor.
We have been members of Congregation Beth Shalom for many years. We moved to Kansas City in 1986 when my husband joined a local company and our children attended Hebrew school and Sunday school. We raised our children in KC while I chose to return to school for a BFA at the Kansas City Art Institute. I have continued my career as a practicing studio artist since, showing in local and regional galleries and museums over the years. Our children have married, and we have five young grandchildren who live on the coasts. We love to spend time together whenever we can for vacations and Jewish holidays.
Some may ask, “Why not have a relative donate a kidney?” I am a first generation American. My parents were from Vienna, Austria, escaping in 1939. However, we lost a lot of our extended family in the Holocaust. Among my family members who were lucky enough to get out of Europe, most have this inherited genetic condition, PKD, making them unable to donate. My mother, sister and uncle all died of kidney failure, and many of my cousins are afflicted with this disease as well. I do have one cousin who received a transplant and is living a wonderful life due to the kindness of a living donor.
The science for transplant has advanced, and today you can have a donor who is not a genetic match who donates as part of a paired organ exchange or even a multi-kidney transplant chain. And, of course, if someone happens to be a match, they can donate to me directly.
Some of you may know our friend Martha Gershun. She saw an article in The Chronicle five years ago (just like this one) and was so moved that she decided to give the greatest gift, a gift of life. She became one of the 50,000 living kidney donors who chose this act of compassion. Her kidney recipient, Deb Porter Gill, is living a wonderful life in Florida due to the generosity of Martha’s gift.
As one living donor said, “Everyone has their own mitzvah to perform – whether donating money or volunteering time to a nonprofit or just helping their neighbor. Donating a kidney happened to be mine.”
If you, or someone you share this article with, is interested in donating a kidney, please contact the Living Donor Team at KU Medical; Christina Self at 913 945-6929. Please tell them you are calling for Gerry Trilling.
This just might be your mitzvah.
