One new kidney, boundless hope for the future

by Jonathan Vaitl

Randi Hammett has polycystic kidney disease (PKD), which causes fluid-filled cysts to crowd out kidney mass and reduce the organ’s ability to function properly. For most people, the road from diagnosis to renal failure extends over several years. However, in Randi’s case, the disease progressed at an unusual pace, and within one year of being diagnosed with PKD, this 19-year-old from Salina, Kans., was on dialysis.

Randi Hammett’s parents pay a visit after her August 8, 2006 kidney transplant surgery

But Randi’s rapid decline wasn’t the only mysterious aspect of her health condition. A genetic disorder, PKD is almost always inherited. “We went through everyone on both sides of the family,” LaShelle Hammett, Randi’s mother, explains. “No one had it.”

Randi’s hometown doctors referred the Hammetts to the University of Kansas (KU), the university hospital nearest to Salina. Randi’s new doctors diagnosed her with orofaciodigital syndrome type I, which helped to make sense of Randi’s wide-ranging health problems, including hydrocephalus, a hole in her heart, and cysts in her brain and on her liver. While knowing the cause of their daughter’s health problems brought answers to at least some of the Hammett’s questions, answers were not enough. Randi’s kidneys were deteriorating quickly. By March 2006, doctors at KU advised the family to accelerate the search for a donor.

Family members had already been tested, but without finding a match. In the end, the Hammetts could do little more than have faith that God would provide a donor.

“It gets to the point,” LaShelle says, “where you don’t know which way to go and you just break down and cry. But afterward, I always felt peace and calm.”

Before last summer, Glynis Broshar (right) thought that only people who have died could be organ donors. Today, one of her kidneys is sustaining Randi Hammett (left).

LaShelle, at the time, was attending a Life Skills class at CrossRoads BIC Church in Salina. As any mother would, she shared her concerns about her daughter’s health with the class. Another class participant, Glynis Broshar, remembers hearing about Randi’s condition for the first time.

“When I heard the announcement, I thought, ‘Boy, I hope they find someone,’ but I sure wasn’t thinking that I’d be the donor,” Glynis recalls.

Time passed, more potential donors were turned down, and Randi’s condition worsened. CrossRoads made a public announcement through the church bulletin, providing a phone number for those who wanted to get tested, to see if they would qualify as donors. Glynis still didn’t consider herself a donor, but she kept the bulletin.

And soon, the sprout of sacrifice within Glynis began to grow. While searching for something in her purse one day, Glynis came across the bulletin and decided to call the number. She received supplies in the mail for both a blood and a urine test. She kept everything a secret.

One week later, Glynis got a phone call from the transplant center. “They told me I was a match. I shared the news with LaShelle, but I said not to get her hopes up,” Glynis remembers. She also told her husband, Ron, who, to Glynis’s surprise, was on board immediately.

Not only did she match, but she matched so well that it was almost as though she and Randi were related. The promise of a successful transplant was in sight.

Part of the process of volunteering as a donor was to speak with a psychologist beforehand, so the doctors could be sure Glynis knew what she was doing. “I was so concerned that I might say something wrong and get rejected.” But she passed again. Just one final test was needed before she could be fully approved as a donor. That’s when the doubts began to creep in.

Glynis had an extra vein running through her kidney. Doctors refused to do the surgery because it would require too much extra time. Glynis recalls her heartbreak. “I was devastated. I had my hopes all set up. I was just bawling. I had done all this, and now I couldn’t do it because of some stupid vein?” She took it as a sign. Throughout it all, she had prayed constantly, “God, if it’s your will, then let me pass the tests.”

“I started to question it. How could I go so far and not have this happen?”

Her decision to keep her actions as quiet as possible seemed wise. Though LaShelle, CrossRoads Associate Pastor Mary Lister, and of course, Glynis’s husband, Ron, knew what was happening in her life, no one else was aware of what was going on.

Then came another phone call. KU had found another surgeon who was willing to perform the surgery. “I was shocked,” Glynis remembers. “I thought it was a no. I thought it would never happen.”

LaShelle told Randi she had a donor, but kept the name secret. “There was always that chance that the kidney would be rejected,” LaShelle explains. “I didn’t want to get Randi’s hopes up.”

On Tuesday, August 8, 2006, as Glynis and Randi walked side by side into the hospital for surgery, Glynis was overcome with fear. “What if I did something wrong and I die and I go to hell?” she thought. Glynis recalls praying and feeling an amazing calm come over her.
Hour after hour of surgery consumed the day, and in the end, it was an astounding success. By mid-afternoon the following day, Glynis had recovered enough to be released, despite expectations that she’d be hospitalized for about a week. Randi, whom doctors anticipated keeping for a month, went one better and received her discharge in only six days. “The doctors were just blown away,” says LaShelle, laughing.

“Randi looks so good,” her mother reports.  “She has her color back. She’s down from 42 pills a day to 19. And now she’s starting to set some goals. She just graduated from high school, and she’s already thinking about going to school to study photography.”

The experience brought out the highs and lows of the faith of all involved in Randi’s story, but everyone agrees that they came out stronger. LaShelle says, “It’s easy to scream and yell at God and ask why.” But for her, she need only look at the enduring faith of her daughter, who once exclaimed “Jesus loves me! He told me!” at the tender age of 9, following her third brain surgery.

For Glynis, this is another lesson in humility. Don’t call her a hero. She rejects the title. This was the Lord’s will, in her eyes, and she was helping a friend. “In a way, I was doing this more for LaShelle,” admits Glynis, whose daughter Amber is nearly Randi’s age. “When I saw how much pain she was going through, I had to help.”

And while she’ll always have some concern about the potential complications of living with only one kidney, Glynis never second-guesses her decision. In light of her hope for the life beyond, it was a risk she was willing to take.

Jonathan Vaitl is a recent graduate of Messiah College and currently works as a copy editor for The Sentinel newspaper in Carlisle, Pa. He’s planning to relocate to Philadelphia in the summer and become the greatest writer ever to live.