 My Grandmother was a regular dialysis patient for at least a decade. It usually took her several hours for each appointment. These appointments were three times a week. She always enjoyed it when I would drive her to the dialysis center and accompany her through the process. She was a good soul. Grandma passed away on April 20th, 2003 as a result of her dependency on dialysis, among other things. My 2nd son, Makai, was diagnosed in-utero with hydronephrosis, a condition where his kidney's were not draining properly. Sometimes these things fix themselves by birth or shortly thereafter, but it wasn't in the cards for our sweet Makai. Before the age of 1, Makai was taken to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake City for a surgery on one of his kidneys. Since his January 2007 surgery, everything has been peachy in regards to his health. A Special Feeling I Could Not Ignore In the early part of 2007 I felt a still small voice tell me to look into kidney donation. It wasn't a voice I could hear, but rather an indescribable feeling. The feeling caused me to wonder if my Grandma could have lived longer if she had a kidney donor, something I had never before contemplated. I ignored the prompting and kept going about life as normal. I again felt the prompting later in the year while sitting in church one Sunday. I couldn't ignore it again. Let the Research Begin As I began to search on the internet, I wondered if you could even donate a kidney to someone you didn't know since I didn't know anyone that needed a kidney at the time. Lo and behold, I discovered that you could indeed donate as a goodSamaritan donor. I also found that the state of Utah was one of only a handful of states that did this type of donation. Furthermore I was relieved to find that the mortality rate of donors was very low. As I continued my research I found that there was a huge need, but very little supply. Only an average of about eight people per year over the previous five in Utah had donated a kidney as a live good Samaritan donation. I knew I had to do it, especially with hundreds on the waiting list in Utah alone. The next step was convincing my wife to let me go through with the surgery and donation. What If? Because of that special feeling, I knew that God would prepare a way for me to accomplish the donation. Even if at some point down the road my wife, kids, or some other family member needed my kidney, God would prepare a way then as he was doing now for someone else. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that as a donor, I would be moved to the top of the national kidney donor registry if I ended up needing a transplant. One of the things that scared me in this process was the possibility that God wanted me to go through with this because of all of the tests involved to make sure I was healthy enough to donate a kidney. That scared me because maybe in the process I would find out I had some sort of illness or disease previously undetected. Testing, Testing, and Some More Testing After countless blood and urine tests (I loved getting pricked), chest x-ray, ekg, CT scan, nephrologist visit, etc. I made the decision to proceed with the donation. I made a conscious decision to only tell my wife, mother & mother-in-law about my surgery, however.  The testing and matching was drawn out over about two months until the transplant team finally found the match. April Woolsey of Clearfield, UT. 32 year old April had lupus which affected her kidneys. After meeting with the surgeon, Dr. Belnap, the surgery was scheduled for December 18th, 2007. Dr. Belnap (who ended up doing the surgery for the recipient, April. Dr. Willem Van Der Werf was my surgeon) said "if I had a hat, I would take it off and give it to you. What you are doing will literally save a life". Meeting April Two days before surgery I went in for one final blood draw to make sure the match was still good. The next day Emily, Jonas, Makai & I got to meet April and her family at the hospital. Her mother was especially appreciative. April handed me a card that expressed her feelings about my life-saving donation. I should note here that when I first met with the transplant coordinator I was unsure if I would want to meet the person I was donating to. I finally decided it would be a good idea to meet with the recipient. Having made that decision and subsequently meeting with the recipient, April, the day before the surgery, I can honestly say I made the right decision in choosing to meet her. Family Unaware The morning of the surgery, while I was in the operating room, Emily sent an email to my family telling them about the surgery, why I was doing it, who the recipient was and how I was not a match for my wife or kids so they shouldn't worry. What followed was an outpouring of love and support for me and April. Post Surgery As the nurses were wheeling my bed up to my room following surgery, the first thing I said when I saw Emily  Did I Regret My Decision? There is another story about my bowels being asleep for a few days and a little prayer of hope in desperation, but we'll keep that private for now. If you were to ask me if I have ever regretted doing this, I would give a resounding no! I am happy I donated my kidney and hope that others will follow suit. Did you know that in 2008 over 4,000 people died while waiting for a live-saving kidney transplant? If it wasn't for a wonderful mother who would always go out of her way to help others, I am not sure if this would have happened. She taught me that serving others was a way to serve Heavenly Father because we are all literally his sons and daughters. Video From the News My mother sent the local news station to interview me at the hospital. I was in much pain and really didn't want to do the interview, but she insisted and I agreed under the condition that the interviewer only use my first name. To see the video, please visit www.brettmenzie.com. I hope that everyone who reads this story will "pay it forward" and go out of their way to do something for someone else, no matter how seemingly minor it may seem. What a great experience this turned out to be, even though it hurt more than I could have anticipated, it felt oh so good at the same time. Volunteer Ever
since the surgery, I have made myself available to talk with potential
donors about the risks, pain, joy, and the process as a whole in
donating a kidney. I enjoy sharing my experience and helping others in their decision to donate a life-saving organ. Kidney donation surgery changed my life forever and
I hope to spread the word to everyone within earshot. Video From the News  Jennifer Stagg of KUTV channel 2 (Salt Lake City CBS affiliate) interviews Brett & April (the recipient) regarding the kidney transplant. Transplant took place on December 18th, 2007 and the interview was December 20th, 2007. To see pictures of the actual surgery, click here. The password is menzie. For the blog entry Emily made the day after the surgery, click here (you will need to be a member of our blog to see this... if you're not, just email me and ask for permission). If the video does not load, here is the direct link |
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 Menzie Family Social Networking   |
My Kidney Donation Experience |