CINDY CRIPPS

 

 

Hello,

 

My name is Cindy. I’m a 47-year-old wife, mother of one son, and grandmother of twin boys.

 

In January 2001, I became ill with a blood disorder known as Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, or TTP. Without treatment, TTP is fatal most of the time. I was very ill and nearly died, but Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, performed plasma exchanges that saved my life. Unfortunately, however, my kidneys were affected, and no longer functioned.  

 

I went on dialysis and was very ill for several years--in and out of the hospital with ailments such as pancreatitis and fluid around my heart and lungs. 

 

Thanks in part to my amazing family, I got better. In September, 2003, my hero--my niece Andie--donated a kidney to me.  Unfortunately, the kidney lasted only 3 years. So in May, 2006, I went back on dialysis and was re-listed on the donor waiting list.

 

In 2007, I received a kidney from a deceased donor. It was a perfect match. However, after transplanting the kidney, the doctors determined that it had been damaged. They thought they could repair it, but they weren’t able to do so. Five days after the transplant, they removed the kidney. So back on dialysis and the waiting list I went. After all I’d been through with those 2 surgeries, I was  just happy to be alive. 

 

In March, 2009, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. That knocked me off the transplant waiting list for 2 years. 

 

I am now back on the waiting list and am in my 11th year of dialysis. As a result of my previous illnesses and treatments, I developed antibodies that now make a match very difficult. Because of this, I need a donor who, like me, has type O blood, and matches me perfectly. 

 

If you would like to consider being my HERO, please call my living-donor coordinator, Sue Weeks, at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at 1-800-552-8026 or 501-526-5480. Or, you may send an e-mail to turtonweekssusanm@uams.edu.

 

Thank you for reading my story and for considering being a living kidney donor.

 

                                                                            Cindy

 

         My wonderful family: My sister, Penny; Aunt Oleta; Mom; and my husband, Robbie.

 

10/25/12