April is National Donate Life Month.
Local advocate, Ron Hinz, is an organ recipient himself, having received a kidney back in July of 2010.
“It’s been a good 12 years kidney-wise,” he told Seehafer News. “I’ve had a few other issues but the kidney has been performing flawlessly that entire time.”
Hinz said that he received the kidney from a blood relative, his niece, which he said “is about as good as you can ask for.”
In relating his personal experience, the Manitowoc resident explains that kidney disease is “rather insidious in that there really are no other symptoms. You don’t know you have it. Nothing hurts, you don’t feel bad…It’s a very very slow process…Unless you get the test done, you won’t notice it until the symptoms set it, which are fatigue, muscle aches, and spasms.”
He went on to explain that “People that are born with two kidneys have twice the kidney power they will ever need in their lifetime.”
And Hinz says there are literally thousands of people awaiting the call.
“There are over 107,000 to 108,000 people on the transplant list totally, but over 90,000 of those are waiting for a kidney,” he explained. “It takes 4 to 5 years to get a kidney off the waiting list.”
He points out that a person with one kidney typically has about 90% of the kidney function of a person with two.
To sign up as an organ donor, go to donatelifewisconsin.org.
