Beth Bronner is a member of our Founder’s Circle who considers herself to be a very, very fortunate transplant recipient. In 2003, after a vacation where Beth did not feel like herself, she was diagnosed with kidney disease.
Beth had friends at Northwestern Medicine and she knew about the great reputation it has. She decided to go there for her kidney transplant and was told that there was a five-year wait for a kidney.
Thankfully, this wait did not slow Beth down. She recalled, “I was very, very lucky, and I’m very proud. I had 11 people, five cousins and six friends who volunteered to get tested for me, and I had two cousins who actually fought over who was going to get to give me the kidney.” Beth was able to put off getting her kidney transplant from September of 2003, when she was diagnosed with kidney disease, until June 14th, 2005, when she received a kidney from her cousin whom she had not seen in 20 years.
“The thing about Northwestern that is beyond, beyond amazing is that I never went on dialysis,” Beth said. She has been doing very well since her transplant and she considers herself to be a poster child for transplant at Northwestern. Beth gives the staff at Northwestern a ton of credit. They have taken very good care of her, as has her husband. The staff at Northwestern has kept Beth healthy on her new kidney for almost ten years.
Beth said she decided to join Transplant Village because, “The idea that there was nothing formal among transplant recipients to give back was pretty amazing. What Dan has created here and what the people have done is just beyond amazing!”