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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Kidney donor makes difference

Karen Giesy has the energy to go cross-country skiing again. And when she travels for work, she doesn’t have to search for a dialysis center.

The man she has to thank for that, James Seals, is back to golfing and renovating his house.

And the kidney transplantation program at Sacred Heart Medical Center has several new donors.

Again, all thanks in large part to James Seals.

Seals and Giesy were profiled in The Spokesman-Review in July, six weeks after Seals became the first person in Spokane to give a kidney to a stranger.

Altruistic donation is still rare, but since Seals and Giesy went public, there has been one such kidney transplant at Sacred Heart Medical Center, just this month, and two more are in the works, says transplant coordinator JoAnn McCleary.

Plus, McCleary says, “We had to have reached so many people about getting ‘organ donor’ on their drivers’ licenses.”

Giesy, who lives in Polson, Mont., and works for Glacier National Park, had been on dialysis since March 2003. She suffers from a kidney disease that causes cysts to form and eventually shuts down the organs.

And Seals, a retired Army pilot who lives not far away in Polson, Mont., had thought about organ donation ever since his brother-in-law had a kidney transplant some 30 years ago. When he saw a TV interview last year with an altruistic donor, he knew he wanted to do the same thing.

Giesy and Seals were introduced to each other at an emotion-filled ceremony at Sacred Heart in July. The two were shocked to learn they live so close to each other in northwestern Montana, and they planned on getting together once they got home.

But busy schedules have conspired against them, so the two have talked several times by phone.

Even though they haven’t seen each other, Giesy says she thinks of Seals “every day.”

“He has enabled this for me,” says the mom of two teenagers. “He’s on my mind all the time.”

Giesy still gets checkups every few months, but she has had no complications from the transplant. She loves having the extra time in her life now that she doesn’t have to spend several hours each Monday, Wednesday and Friday in dialysis.

“This is great,” she says. “It’s like I have a whole new life.”

Seals was delighted to receive a poster-size picture of Glacier National Park in the mail a few weeks ago. The giant thank-you photo was shot by one of Giesy’s co-workers, and it was signed by dozens of people who work with her.

“It was really touching,” he says. “Her parents sent me a card, too, which was really sweet.”

Says Seals: “I’m just happy, and I thank God every day that things turned out well. … I’d do it again if I had an extra kidney.”