“I inherited high blood pressure from my dad. I dealt with it for many years, and didn’t realize I had it until the mid 1980s; I probably had it longer than that, but just didn’t know it. About 14 years ago I started losing protein through my kidney, and I was referred to a nephrologist.
“Dr. Douglas Amare in Fairhope was my nephrologist. He trained at UAB. He thought then that I wouldn’t ever have to do this. But about two to three years ago, my kidneys took a turn for the worse. They steadily declined until I had a high creatinine level. I was told to come to UAB in October 2013 to see if I could qualify to be a recipient, and fortunately I was.
“I had several family members that tried to donate to me, but for different reasons, they were unable to do so.
“I have a young friend in Monroeville who had agreed to be a donor, but we didn’t match. However, she agreed to do a pairing. Pretty quickly after that happened, they called and told me they had matched me with someone else and matched her with someone else.
“I got to meet my donor, which was exciting. Her name is Denise Roesle. She gave a kidney to me so someone else could give a kidney to her sister-in-law.
“My donor is going to give a kidney to someone who has been waiting for quite a while — 18 months to two years. The recipient has had a very difficult time trying to match. Wonderfully, my donor from Monroeville is going to match her. Dr. Locke and everyone at UAB has done such an amazing thing with this chain.
“I have to be honest, I just had a terror of starting dialysis. It just changes your life. You can’t do much of anything because you’re tied to that three days a week for four to five hours at a time. It’s life-changing. It’s difficult to travel or do a lot of things. I feel very, very blessed to get this kidney. And I didn’t even have to wait that long to get it. It’s truly amazing.”
Diane Simmons - 19
"Dr. Locke has done such an amazing thing with this chain. It's truly amazing."