kidney transplant – Here for Life

A match in more ways than one

March 30, 20232

When Callie Eide was a little girl, she used to read her mother’s Reader’s Digest. There was a popular health series, starting with “I am Joe’s Heart,” which, spoken in the body part’s voice, detailed parts of Joe and Jane from 1967 to 1990. Callie read about kidney transplantation, and found out early on that people can donate one kidney to someone, and that you can live with just one remaining kidney. At that point she was certain that one day, she would give one of her kidneys to someone who needed one. (more…)

The longest living HCMC kidney transplant patient – DuWayne’s story

January 16, 20232

DuWayne Virnig of Little Falls, MN, formerly of Coon Rapids, is Hennepin Healthcare’s longest living kidney transplant patient, at the age of 82. Thanks to a donor kidney when DuWayne was 37 years old, he has led a long and prosperous life with a loving family and much to be thankful for.

DuWayne began dialysis in 1978 at the age of 37 and, within 6 weeks, had surgery to receive a donor kidney. He and his wife, Lottie, had two small children, Jon and Lora, and were living a good life in Coon Rapids, MN. His daughter, Lora, tells his story. (more…)

Donate Life

April 15, 2021

Are you ready, in the case of a traumatic life-ending event, to donate parts of your body to save someone’s life, if your own life was at an end?

April is Donate Life month. Donate Life month serves to create awareness about how registering to be a donor is an incredible act of kindness and bravery. Donate Life month also honors those who saved and enhanced lives through the selfless act of donation. (more…)

Free from dialysis thanks to kidney that needed a little TLC

August 2, 20191

On Friday, July 26, 2019 Hennepin Healthcare surgeon Dr. Paul Stahler transplanted a hepatitis C-infected kidney into a patient with kidney failure. This new life-saving – and life-changing – protocol of allowing the use of kidneys from hepatitis C-infected donors helps make transplant possible for more patients like CJ Dabney, who was fully aware of the risks and actually encouraged the procedure.

Dabney and transplant surgeon Dr. Paul Stahler discuss the procedure before going into the operating room.

“I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions,” he said. “I’m confident that if this type of transplant was available earlier, I would have made the same decision.”

In Minnesota the wait time for a deceased donor kidney is anywhere from 5-7 years. Sadly, because many patients are on the waiting list too long, they become too sick to undergo a kidney transplant or die. This is what happened to one of Dabney’s friends he met at dialysis, who jokingly coveted his “choice” spot where the two spent many hours each week receiving treatment. (more…)