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Parishioners become friends through transplant

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By Virginia Burroughs, Contributing Writer 1:06 PM Wednesday, January 6, 2010

For many years, two members of North Riverdale Lutheran Church in Dayton knew each other on Sundays, but they’re much more familiar with one another as this year begins.

Janice Griffin, a teacher at Wayne High School, is starting the year with a new kidney. Her donor was Ramona Carver, a church member who works for the city.

Griffin was diagnosed 14 years ago with polycystic kidney disease. “It wasn’t a huge shock, because it’s hereditary,” said the North Redcrest River neighborhood resident. “And, I had no symptoms for the next 10 years.

“When I did start getting sick, it was so slow that I didn’t realize it until last spring. By August, I was ready for dialysis and had to go on a transplant list.”

The single mother of three boys — ages 19, 16, and 12 — was justifiably concerned for her sons’ futures as well as her own.

“After seeing my doctor and being told that I needed a live donor, I went home and drafted a letter,” Griffin recalls. “I explained my situation and the testing process, and gave my blood type. Then, I posted the letter at my school and at church.”

Although several of her co-workers were willing, they were the wrong blood type.

“Then, Ramona called; she had already had the tests done and was a match. I was astonished and really excited.”

The two women went through strenuous testing at the University of Cincinnati transplant clinic, where the surgery was to be performed. “We were hoping to do the transplant in August, but tests showed that Ramona had a bad gall bladder.

“She had her gall bladder surgery in September and we did the transplant Oct. 8.”

Before and during their stays at the hospital, church members prepared and took food to their families.

For the first few weeks after her release from the hospital, “I had to go to the clinic three times a week,” said Griffin. “Members drove me and continued to bring food to the family. They even picked the boys up from school; they were incredible.”

And, Griffin and Carver have gotten to know each other outside of the church. They discovered they only live five blocks from one another. “She lives in the Ridgecrest neighborhood,” Griffin noted.

“We’ve made trips to the Cincinnati clinic and IKEA together, and we clicked in a way that surprised me,” said Griffin. “She told me that she wouldn’t want to go through what I was while raising kids, and she didn’t want me to have to do it, either. That’s why she decided to donate a kidney to me.

“She was very concerned; she’s a remarkable woman.”

On Jan. 5, Griffin returned to her teaching job – with Carver’s kidney. “I feel wonderful,” she said. “I’m just now starting to feel how I used to feel; I had forgotten I could feel this good.”

Contact this columnist at (937) 276-4441 or vburroughs@woh.rr.com.

HEREABOUTS virginia burroughs

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