Ten birthdays. Ten Christmases. Ten years of little, everyday joys that are there if we just stop to appreciate them.

As Kandy Takas approaches her 10-10-10 birthday, she is both joyful and extremely grateful for a generous gift from a stranger that came 10 years ago – a gift that gave her precious time to spend raising her son.

On Oct. 9, 2000, Takas received a kidney transplant after one year, three months and six days of dialysis.

The diagnosis of kidney disease came like a bolt out of the blue for the Millbury woman, who had no idea she was critically ill.

“That whole time is kind of a blur for me,” the Millbury woman said. “At the time, I thought I was a healthy 33-year-old mom. I never dreamed how fast my life could change.”

At the time, Takas was driving back and forth to Lima for work, raising a 2-year-old son and building a new home.

“I was feeling tired. I thought, I was probably just out of shape,” she said. “I had ridden in Bike to the Bay events before, so I’d put my son on the back of the bike or in a wagon and take him for a bike ride or a walk, but I would get so tired and out of breath.

“I didn’t feel sick,” she said. “When you have a 2-year-old, you don’t get to be sick. You’re still mom. This went on

Kandy Takas with her son John after she threw out the first pitch at Donate Life Ohio Night, held at Fifth Third Field May 20. Also at the game, Natalie Cummerow, of Oregon, sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh-inning stretch. Cummerow received a life-saving heart transplant 16 years ago.

 for four or five months, but I really didn’t think too much about it.”

On July 2, 1999 – a very hot summer day – Takas just couldn’t seem to get warm. “When my mom came over, she said, ‘That’s it – you’re going to the emergency room,’” she said.

In the ER at St. Charles Hospital, elevated blood pressure had staff concerned that she may have a stroke. “They whisked me away for tests, and after a couple of hours, the doctor came back and said, `Kandy, you’re very, very, very sick,” she said.

Tests revealed that her kidneys had all but stopped functioning. “The doctor later told me the fact that I was able to sustain me as long as I did was a testament to what good health I was in,” she said.

She began dialysis the next day. “I went four days a week, four hours at a time,” she said. Two weeks into it, her doctor delivered another blow.

“He said, ‘Kandy I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do for your kidneys. They’re totally shut down – shriveled to the size of grapes. You need a transplant,’” she recalled.

“Your life changes,” she said. “It becomes about dialysis and waiting for the beeper to go off – everyone didn’t carry cell phones then.

“Luckily, with the dialysis and being really compliant with the renal diet – no tomatoes, no orange juice, no chocolate, no potatoes and limited fluid intake – I felt better,” Takas said.

“You never know when a page will come,” she said. “One, I was in Pearson Park walking. Another time I was in Panera and didn’t hear it,” she said.

A call meant a trip to Medical College of Ohio where blood would be drawn to determine the best possible match for the kidney. “They would tell you to go home for eight to 10 hours, don’t eat or drink anything,” she said. “It was kind of a roller coaster, not knowing where your life will be in 10 hours.”

The last page came Oct. 8, 2000. “My son and I were at Woodville Mall in the Sears corridor,” Takas said.

After asking a security guard where the nearest pay phone was, she made her way through the mall’s center court where a bevy of little girls dressed in their finest were competing in a pageant.  She found the phone, dug through her purse for a quarter and called her coordinator.

“I said ‘Mark, it’s Kandy,’ and my precocious 3-year-old reached over and hung up the phone,” Takas said. “I dug through my purse and find another quarter.

“He said, ‘Kandy you must not want this kidney very badly since you hung up on me,’” she said. “I told him if this didn’t look like a good match, I didn’t want to go in that day. My birthday was in two days and I was having a fun day with my son.”

He said, “I think this one’s yours Kandy,” she said.

After reporting to the hospital for the obligatory blood work, she returned home and went grocery shopping, trying to keep herself busy.

“At 9 p.m. they called told me to come in,” she said. “I was really more excited than scared.

“I was fortunate that a good friend of mine from high school had had a liver transplant so they were a great resource to me, talking me through how the whole transplant process worked,” she said.

“I remember waking up and the doctor said, ‘It’s pink and you’re making urine,’” she said. “Those are the greatest words a kidney transplant recipient can hear.”

An attitude of gratitude
Takas doesn’t know anything about the donor except that it was a male from the Maryland area. “I sent a letter to the donor family, but never heard back, and I’m OK with that,” she said.

“As a volunteer at Life Connection of Ohio, I have met so many families who have donated the organs of their loved ones,” she said. “I tell them that because someone like them made a decision to donate an organ, I got my life back.

“It means so much. Any recipient will tell you that we live life thankful every single day. We’re all so thankful,” she said.

“Now, at 10 years post-transplant, life is full-speed ahead for me,” she said. “I don’t let a lot of stuff bother me. If I’m five minutes late, it’s not life or death. This is all gravy.

Life Connection of Ohio (LCO) serves as a link between organ donors and transplant recipients. Currently, there are more than 107,000 people on the National Transplant Waiting List. Of the more than 3,100 Ohioans waiting for a life-saving transplant, 210 people await a kidney at the University of Toledo Medical Center.

Those interested in becoming an organ donor may join the Ohio Donor Registry, either by visiting www.DonateLifeOhio.org or at local BMV offices when obtaining or renewing an Ohio driver license or State I.D.

It is important to share the decision to be a donor with family members, because they will be consulted as part of the process that determines suitability for transplantation.

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