Julie's Story - Transplants Save Lives!

Julie  Pennell loves life, outings with friends and community theater. The kidney transplant she received last year ensures that she’ll be here to enjoy all of that and more for a long time.

Like several members of her family, Julie Pennell has Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), a common genetic, life-threatening disease which affects more than 600,000 Americans and an estimated 12.5 million people worldwide. PKD refers to the growth of multiple cysts on each kidney, which grow and multiply over time, causing the mass of the kidney to increase. Ultimately, the diseased kidney shuts down causing end-stage renal disease for which dialysis and transplantation are the only forms of treatment.

Since 2003, April has been deemed Donate Life Month and a special effort is made to celebrate the generosity of those who have saved lives by becoming organ, tissue, marrow, and blood donors and to encourage others to do the same. As part of this month’s recognition, Saint Anthony’s Health Center is teaming with Mid-America Transplant Services to provide donor information at a special display on April 23,  from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Saint Anthony’s Hospital cafeteria and on April 25, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Saint Clare’s Hospital cafeteria.

Pennell is among those grateful for the kindness of a donor’s family, from whom she received a kidney in May 2006.

“I grew up understanding Polycystic Kidney Disease. Of the seven children in my family, I, and four siblings had it, along with my mother, an aunt and uncle,” she said. 

She was also familiar with the treatment options, along with the limitations of each one: Peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), overnight dialysis and hemodialysis. With the peritoneal dialysis, a catheter is placed in the abdomen and must be drained every several hours. No machine is needed with this method. One overnight dialysis procedure uses a machine that automatically fills and drains three to five times during the night, while the patient sleeps. In another, called (NIPD), the patient must make six or more exchanges during the night.

Each of these procedures has some degree of limitations and restrictions but are necessary. The machine-aided process, for instance, requires the user to be home for several hours and mobile only within a 35 foot radius from the machine (the length of the cord). Most people on hemodialysis go to dialysis three or four times a week for a four-hour treatment.

Two of her sisters had transplants – one after being on dialysis for a year and the other after about six months of dialysis. The average time on the national transplant list is four years. The wait for Pennell was made complex when she learned she had breast cancer. This diagnosis resulted in a nearly two-year delay for her transplant and two and one-half years on dialysis.

A Blood Bank Supervisor at Saint Anthony's Health Center, Pennell worked throughout her dialysis which took nine hours and four exchanges.
 
“You have to be connected to the machine for nine hours and it takes about a half hour to set up and a half hour to disconnect. Most people don’t get 10 hours of sleep or downtime at night. You really have to watch your timing to make sure that you are ready to get up in the morning to get to work on time. There were many times when I sat in bed waiting for the machine to cycle so that I could disconnect and get ready to go to work,” she said.

Julie returned to work 10 weeks following her transplant. Her medication regimen includes 11 pills in the morning and 9 at night.  Immediately following the transplant her blood was drawn weekly for the first four months and now it’s done every other week. After May, which marks her first year since the transplant, she will have bloodwork done once a month.

The transplant enabled her to resume her life and lifestyle: She is currently starring as “Joanne” in the community theater production of “Some Americans Abroad,” and sings with the Belleville Philharmonic. Pennell also participated in a fundraising walk for PKD, raising $900, and is a volunteer this year to increase awareness about the disease.

“If someone else is going through this, just don’t give up hope,” she said.

 

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