Lessons in life

ROCKFORD - Two Parkway Elementary School second-grade teachers are being called "angels" and "lifesavers" after donating vital organs to people close to them.

Deb Kirby, 40, Celina, and Kay Brandt, 56, Rockford, each donated a kidney last year.

Kirby donated to her mother, Pat Koeller, 66, St. Paris. Brandt intended to donate to a total stranger but ended up donating to family friend Ted Bollenbacher, 62, Rockford.

Brandt didn't realize how much donating a kidney would mean until she met a man who needed one last year at a local restaurant.

When Brandt heard the man's plight, she immediately offered to give him one of her kidneys.

"He was so shocked that I even offered," Brandt said.

The man was taken off the transplant list a few months later for undisclosed reasons, she said.

"But then I was asked if I wanted to go ahead and donate to someone else," Brandt said. "I didn't really hesitate. I just said 'sure' and lo and behold, it turned out to be Ted."

The Brandt and Bollenbacher families have been friends for years, she said.

"The real thrill came when I got to call him and tell him that I was the one," Brandt said. "He knew for about a week that he was getting one, just not from whom. We all cried that day. I still get teary-eyed thinking about it."

Bollenbacher, 62, said he has no way to repay Brandt for her donation.

"She's an angel," Bollenbacher said. "She gave me my life back. It's just unbelievable."

Bollenbacher's kidneys failed after he had back surgery last June. His pain medication shut down his kidneys and bowels, leaving him on dialysis, he said.

"That makes you so tired," Bollenbacher said. "It's very hard on you. It really takes your life away from anything but it."

He had no idea how many people needed new kidneys.

"It's just amazing. I got a huge break with Kay," he said.

Kirby made her donation without hesitation.

"It's my mom," Kirby said. "My brother couldn't do it for health reasons, so there really was no discussion. My mom has always been there for us. She's the glue that kept my family together."

"She and I have always been close," Kirby continued. "We're just a really close family."

For Koeller, kidney problems came as a complete surprise.

After she retired in January 2013, tests detected low hemoglobin levels, and within a short time, blood showed her kidneys weren't working properly.

"I went from them functioning at 40 percent down to 5 percent within a few months," Koeller said, adding tests did not determine the condition's cause. "It was scary. It was so fast. And then I started getting dialysis."

Kirby decided her mother wasn't going to be on dialysis for years.

"She told me no way was I going to have to wait around years for a kidney," Koeller said. "She was pretty determined to do this. She's always been a little stubborn but she's the most caring person I know."

Koeller said she hopes more people will learn how they can help.

Bollenbacher said a neighbor also needs a kidney transplant.

"I had no idea there was such a tremendous need. And then I find out my neighbor, who I can look out my window and across the field to see his house, is in need of one. I just feel very fortunate," he said.

Kirby and Brandt both knew about the option of donating organs after death, but they had never considered donating while still alive.

"Donations from live people are always the best, they will tell you," Koeller said. "There are so many waiting. I know it's a huge sacrifice but then it's a huge burden for those who need an organ, be it a kidney or whatever, a huge burden. I'm lucky. I get this second chance. Not everyone does."

According to United Network for Organ Sharing, 120,000 people nationally are waiting for a kidney. From January 2014 to Jan. 30, 2015, 24,383 kidneys were transplanted, with 11,884 of those from live donors. In Ohio 687 people were live donors.

Every 10 minutes, someone needing a transplant is added to the list and an average of 21 people a day die waiting for a donation.

In Ohio, the average transplant wait is five years with children being automatically placed atop the list.

Donors must be in good physical and mental condition, be free of high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV, hepatitis or organ-specific diseases. Living donors may donate a kidney, a segment of the liver, a lobe of the lung, a portion of the pancreas or a portion of the intestine.

To receive a donation, a patient must get a physician referral, contact a transplant hospital and be evaluated.

For more information on how to donate or receive a donation, contact the United Network for Organ Sharing at 804-782-4808, Lifeline of Ohio at 800-525-5667, or LifeConnection of Ohio at 937-223-8223.