West Tennessee woman in need of kidney transplant

JACKSON, Tenn. — There are thousand of people in need of organs, whether it is a lung or a kidney.

And after being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, one West Tennessee woman joined the fight and waitlist for one of the most needed organs.

Prior to May 23, Evelyn Henning had type two diabetes. It wasn’t until she visited a doctor in 2016 that they informed her she was diagnosed with stage four chronic kidney disease.

“I, for two years, I ate correctly. So I exercised. And after two years, I had to be on kidney dialysis. So I still work full-time, I go to dialysis,” Henning said.

Starting off, Henning was going to dialysis for four and a half hours, three days out of the week.

She says the dialysis cleans the toxins out, but it is not as pure as it can be compared to a healthy kidney.

“So dialysis effects you so drastically that there’s weakness. There are so many things that you’re unable to do. My family is very supportive,” Henning said.

Henning is on the kidney transplant list for Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Methodist. Her blood type is B positive, making it a little more difficult for her to find a donor match.

“I’ve been on Vanderbilt’s waiting list for a little over three years, and same process. And then after two years, you have to go back and requalify,” Henning said.

When you get your ID or a driver’s license, you can decide to be a donor. But if you’re not registered as a donor on your ID, you can become a donor at anytime.

“Just want to tell everybody that the gift of life and your health, take care of your health. Health is golden. There is no price that one can put on a healthy lifestyle,” Henning said.

Thousands of people are waiting everyday for a potential donor match.

You can learn more about registering to be an organ donor in Tennessee here.

You can learn more about being a kidney donor at Vanderbilt here, and at Methodist Transplant Institute here.

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