Church member donates kidney
"It’s amazing to me how people have put me on
this pedestal. It’s not a big deal."
Vicki Smith, kidney donor
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
In January, Hailey resident Vicki Smith, 50, a wife and
mother of two, flew across the country to Johns Hopkins Hospital in
Baltimore and donated a kidney to someone she hardly knew.
Vicki Smith Express photo by David
Seelig
Now, two months later, she downplays the altruism of that
act, though it has allowed another Hailey resident, Lisa Tanner, also a
wife and mother, to resume a life without all-day trips to Twin Falls
three times a week for dialysis.
During an interview last week, Tanner said she worries a
little about rejecting the organ she received from Smith, but otherwise,
she’s doing "okay." As for Smith, "she’s a wonderful
person," Tanner said, laughing.
A visit to Smith’s house begins to give some insight to
the reasons for her generosity. The inside of the neat Victorian-style
home is bedecked with Christian motifs. Smith herself wore a large cross
on a necklace for a Saturday morning interview. She said her deep
commitment to Catholicism made her decision to donate her kidney obvious.
"It’s amazing to me how people have put me on this
pedestal," she said. "It’s not a big deal.
"The neatest thing for me has been being able to
share my faith. To me, it’s been a great way to evangelize."
On the more practical side, she said she is still
regaining her strength following the four-and-a-half hour surgery Jan. 2.
She has four small scars on her abdomen. Doctors told her she should
protect her remaining kidney by avoiding eating large amounts of salt and
high-protein foods.
She said her daughter, Joy Dobson, 29, asked whether she
was afraid losing a kidney would eventually shorten her life.
"Possibly," Smith said. "But I still wanted
to do it, because I’m not afraid to die. My faith is really strong. I’m
looking forward to the next phase," which she said is eternity.
She believes a "sacrificial way of living" will
get her there.
Tanner and Smith both belong to the parish of St. Charles
Catholic Church in Hailey. The parish had spread the news of Tanner’s
health problems not only to Smith but to hundreds of others.
In May of last year, the church organized a 400-person
fund-raising dinner for Tanner, and several members of the church
volunteered to begin driving Tanner to Twin Falls for her dialysis
treatments.
Smith said she began considering donating when she learned
that Tanner’s father could not donate his kidney after doctors found
cysts on them in October 1999.
"I’m not really friends with Lisa, but she goes to
the Catholic church," she said. "I started praying, should I
come forward? I knew, I knew I’d be the one."
Three other members of the church also volunteered to be
tested for donation, Smith said, including Patti and Gary Hardman and
Marsha Reiman, "but I won because I was the youngest."
Smith remembers the day she told Tanner of her decision.
"We were coming out of church," Smith said.
"I just told her, ‘Lisa, I want to be tested to see if I can be a
donor for you.’"
Kidney donors must have the same blood type as their
recipients. In May of last year, Smith began the involved blood testing
that precedes a transplant at Dr. Donald Levin’s office in Hailey and at
the Hailey Medical Clinic.
Then, in July, she flew to Johns Hopkins, for the final
round of testing. Tanner followed a day later, and the next day, the
hospital began preparing them both for operation. But high levels of
calcium in Tanner’s blood prevented the surgery, and the two were forced
to return home.
"We were so blown out," Smith said.
In October, Smith’s stepson, Shane, was killed in a car
accident, which Smith said raised new questions in her daughter’s mind
about the transplant. Again, her faith directed her.
"We’re all the body of Christ," she said.
"We may as well share the parts."
Nevertheless, her stepson’s death caused her to postpone
a Nov. 7 date for the operation. "I couldn’t do it," she said.
And there were other complications with Tanner’s health
for which she required surgery and recovery before the transplant could
take place.
Smith, who’s a third-grade teacher at Hailey Elementary
School, meanwhile was working with the Blaine County School District to
get time off.
The fall and early winter, Smith characterized as a
"real roller-coaster."
"That part was hard—all the canceling."
Then, on Jan. 2, all the pieces came together.
To avoid holiday travel crowds, the two flew back to
Baltimore a few days early, and "we basically had a three-day mini
vacation," Smith said. "We had a really fun time, and then we
had the surgery."
Members of both families were also there.
Smith remained in the hospital for five days recovering,
because she was "really sick from the anesthesia," and then she
came home on Jan. 10.
Tanner, whose body nearly rejected the new organ, remained
in the hospital for almost a month before returning to Hailey.
Smith admits the possibility that the kidney would be lost
was daunting. "It was hard for me to think that I had gone through
all that for nothing."
Now, she said, she and Tanner talk once a week.
To others who would be reluctant to do the same thing as
Smith, she said, "We’re not going to get out of this life alive, so
what is the most good you can do? Doing good is in front of you. You just
have to be courageous enough to take the challenges."
On the general shortage of organ donations from both the
living and the dead, she said, "I wish people would realize it’s
not as dangerous or hard to do as you think."
Should everyone consider doing it?
"Yeah," she said. "I wish people would
consider it."
