ADDIS — Sandy Gantt is no stranger to fighting battles. “I’ve had kidney disease at a very young age, and they’ve always monitored me,” she explained. But earlier this year, the 51-year-old found out her health was declining.
When she went to the doctor in April, she learned her kidney Glomerular Filtration Rate, commonly referred to as GFR, was a 19. According to the National Kidney Foundation, a normal GFR is typically 90 or higher, though it naturally declines with age. “The lower the number, the worse off you are,” she said. “So he told me that I needed to try to get on a kidney transplant list because I needed a transplant.”
Gantt’s doctor referred her to doctors at Tulane, and she’s been going through testing ever since. “I’m still not finished. I still have like three more tests to take,” she said.
Once all of her testing is done, Gantt will be listed as ‘inactive’ on the transplant list, and would accrue time, because everything still needs to be approved by her insurance. “If you get on that transplant list, it is five years long,” she said. “By the time my number comes up, I’d have time to die.”
Right now, Gantt isn’t on dialysis. She says she’s not far from needing it, but is hoping to find a donor before that happens. “The goal for me is that I don’t want to go on dialysis,” she said. “Once you go on dialysis, you can get sick and your body may not be able to live. It can’t take it. It’s a strain on the heart. I want to get a living kidney.”
Searching for a donor
Since learning she would need a kidney transplant, Gantt, her friends, and family have been working tirelessly to get the word out. “My friends have been posting it on Facebook and Instagram and they made me some flyers,” she said. “I passed the flyers out at local businesses and banks. I’m also on three churches’ prayer list. They put it in the bulletin, and they also put it on our Facebook page.”
Gantt’s daughters have also been trying to help get their mom’s story out there. “My oldest works at the Surgical Specialty Center Baton Rouge and her boss let her put all kinds of flyers up,” she said. “My youngest is in college, and she’s been spreading the word, too. They say social media is the best way to do it.”
“I have been trying to spread the word as much as possible, because a kidney is hard to get,” Gantt said. “I’ve had a few people who said they were interested, and they have sent them the donor application to fill out, but they don’t tell me anything because they don’t want to get my hopes up.”
So far, Gantt hasn’t heard that anyone who expressed interest is a match. She also said her close friends and family aren’t candidates. “It takes a very special person to want to do this,” she said. “It’s not every day that someone gets up and say, ‘Oh, I want to give a kidney away!’ A lot of times they don’t understand that they can live with only one healthy kidney.”
Leaning on her faith
Through her entire journey, Gantt has leaned on her faith to get her through this disease, and find a donor. “I’m Catholic. I believe in God. I believe that God will bring me a special person, not now, but in His time,” she said. “So, meanwhile, I just have faith. I keep faith every day. I go to church, I say the rosary, and I’ve always said my rosary inmy prayers every day, and I hope for the best.”
Kidney disease is just one health issue Gantt is dealing with. “I don’t go anywhere, because it makes me very tired. My joints hurt. I have other health problems,” she said. “I have bone and disc degeneration, fibromyalgia, arthritis in my spine, carpal tunnel, a cyst on my right temporal lobe. The list goes on and on.”
Despite that, Gantt knows she still has a lot to be grateful for. “I’m not going to complain, because it could always be worse. There’s always somebody out there worse off than you,” she said. “Every day I thank God for getting me out of bed, I thank God that I don’t have to be on dialysis, I thank God for everything that He’s given me.”
Interested donors
One of the reasons Gantt is hoping to find a donor before she gets on the transplant list is because kidneys from living donors generally last about twice as long as deceased donor kidneys, according to the American Medical Association. “With a live donor, you can live 10 years longer and you can get the kidney now,” Gantt said.
If you’re able and willing to be a living donor, you can contact Gantt 225-405-8826.
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