Daughter donates kidney to father
Published 11:30 am Wednesday, July 5, 2017
- Dawn and Jim Lyles await their kidney transplant surgery in November while resting in their hospital beds.
Dawn Lyles, 43, of Kenbridge, first learned about kidney donations when she found out her father’s kidneys were failing.
“He went in the hospital last May, and it all kind of happened so quick. And then we found out his kidneys were failing. He didn’t have a whole lot of time before he started dialysis,” Dawn said.
She found out there were so many people on the waiting list for kidney transplants that some had been waiting up to 10 years.
Dawn and Jim Lyles went through the process of kidney transplantation in November. They pose following the transplant.
Her father, Jim Lyles, 69 — who has suffered from Type One diabetes for most of his life — only had to wait until November.
“I was a living donor for my father and we ended up being a perfect match so I donated my kidney to him in November, and he’s like another person,” Dawn said.
She said that prior to the transplant, he complained about being tired and nauseous.
Dawn said there’s not a lot of people who know much about the donation process.
“I had to go through a lot of extensive testing, but it was more to see how my kidneys were functioning and a lot of blood testing and what not,” Dawn said.
She has to keep a watch on her health and follow up with doctors for two years.
“You definitely have to make some lifestyle changes,
you know, eating good,” Dawn said. “I had blood pressure issues, before so I have do a lot blood pressure checks to make sure it’s staying low because having the one kidney now can put a lot of stress on it.”
She said another change is she can’t take over-the-counter aspirin.
“As long as you’re taking care of yourself, you’re not going to take any years away from your life,” Dawn said.
She said in the way of health, she feels great and that there’ve been no changes.
“It’s been a really great year. I feel blessed,” Lyles said.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, the median wait time for an individual’s first kidney transplant is 3.6 years and can vary depending on health, compatibility and availability of organs.
The organization’s website cited 13 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant and every 14 minutes someone is added to the kidney transplant list.
The website cited in 2014, 4,761 patients died while waiting for a kidney transplant while another 3,668 people became too sick to receive a kidney transplant.
