Valen Keefer
Kidney Recipient, Northern CA
Since the day she was born, Donate Life Ambassador and UKRO National Spokesperson, Valen Keefer, has faced a challenging medical heritage. Everyone on her mother’s side has suffered from polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Valen was diagnosed with PKD at the age of 10 and is the youngest in her family to endure such severe side effects from the disease. From age five, she battled through seizures, scoliosis surgery, pancreatitis, a bilateral nephrectomy, dialysis, a congenital anomaly, and more than 70 blood transfusions—until finally, on August 13, 2002, she became the first in her family to receive a life-saving kidney transplant.
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Geary McKoy
Kidney Recipient, Sacramento CA
“My health had an impact on my professional and personal life. Being a sales manager for a Fortune 100 Company, I was required to travel and work long hours.” The many toxins in his blood stream caused extreme fatigue and on most days found himself exhausted and ready to retreat for a nap by mid-afternoon.
With his failing health, Geary was forced to go on dialysis and over time, his quality of life diminished because of the frequency and the time required for the treatments. Finally, after nine months on dialysis, Geary received the news he’d been waiting for – a kidney had become available.
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Maribel Butts
Kidney Recipient, Sacramento CA
It was at the age of 22 that I discovered that I had kidney problems. I was pregnant with my youngest son and delivered him two months prematurely due to the disease. Everything seemed to return to normal afterwards, but I was closely monitored by nephrologists. MRI scan results determined Nephrotic Syndrome, which gradually shrinks renal arteries. The disease progressed and at the age of 25, my kidneys completely failed.
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Len Strickland
Heart Recipient, Sacramento CA
His symptoms began with dizziness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and edema in the ankles, feet and calves. After visiting with multiple doctors, in 2007 Len Strickland was diagnosed with Familial (Hereditary) Amyloidosis, a rare hereditary disease that eventually leads to congestive heart failure.
After approximately a year of tests, in March 2008, Len was officially placed on the regional heart transplant list. The categories of placement on the list are 1A, 1B and 2 with 1A being the most severe. Len was told he had been designated as a 2 and to keep his hopes for a heart transplant to a minimum.
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Ana Maria Villalobos
Bone recipient, Whittier CA
Ana Maria, a Mexico City native, had a left hip replacement in 2002, a left knee replacement in 2007, a right knee replacement in 2008, and a right hip replacement in 2011.
“I was told by my doctor that the bone of tissue donors was made into a cement paste that glued my bones and allowed me to heal better and faster,” said a grateful Villalobos. “If it wasn’t for the people who said yes to tissue donation and my surgeries, I would be in a wheelchair today.”
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Leilah Dowsari
Heart Recipient, Loma Linda CA
Then known only as “Baby Eve,” 26-year-old Leilah Dowsari made international headlines in 1986 when she became the first newborn ever listed on the national waiting list. When Leilah received a heart from 10-day-old “Baby Eric” of Atlanta, Georgia on her 17th day of life, she was the first female newborn to do so.
Back then it was experimental,” said Leilah. “They thought my first transplant would last five years at the most, but it took me all the way to my teenage years.” By age fourteen, she had developed coronary artery disease, which is not uncommon among heart recipients. “The second transplant was scary for me because I experienced health problems,” recalled Leilah. Within three years, a return of coronary artery disease would necessitate a third transplant. It has been more than nine years since she received the heart that beats in her today.
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