Seeking hope amid worry

By Megan Grigorian

Ana Rendich, a painter, displays her work in two Fredericksburg galleries. And she volunteers a few hours a week teaching Spanish to fourth-graders. But what she's always enjoyed most is playing outside with her children when they come home from school.

But lately, worn down from the effects of a 30-year battle with kidney disease, Rendich can barely stay awake until dinner. She refuses to stop volunteering, but her painting has taken a back seat. Playing outside is rarely an option.

"We go very few places, do few things anymore," Rendich said. "A big thing for us is to take a drive on the weekend."

Rendich, of Fredericksburg, has end-stage kidney failure and is in need of a kidney transplant. Since there are no familial matches to her Type O blood, Rendich, 50, and her husband are hoping a friend or stranger will come through for her.

They've made a public plea for help from a friend, acquaintance or stranger on their Web site, rescue ana.com.

Asking someone to donate a kidney is emotional not just because Rendich needs one to live, but because she and her husband know what a large request it is to ask of someone. Deciding to seek a living donor didn't sit well with Rendich.

"I just did not feel right about it," Rendich said.

But after struggling with the severity of the favor and realizing their options were limited, the couple decided to make their plea.

"We had to ask, because if we didn't ask, we weren't going to find anyone," Millis said.

HURDLES AND HOPE

Besides exhaustion, Rendich suffers daily from nausea, vomiting and difficulty sleeping.

Fellow artist and friend Kristy Zerull said Rendich never wants to let friends know just how difficult things are for her.

"She always wants to do something for someone else," Zerull said. "She doesn't want people to feel sorry for her."

Rendich was 16 when she was diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a disease that attacks glomeruli in the kidneys. Glomeruli are responsible for cleaning the blood in the kidney. Without them, the kidney cannot filter waste and extra fluid from the blood properly.

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On average, women in Ana Rendich's age group (50-54) live six years on dialysis but 18 years with a transplant, according to the United States Renal Data System. To get tested to be a potential donor for Rendich, contact Glenn Millis at 703/851-2420 or rescue_ana@comcast.net.

For information about becoming a living donor for anyone in need--thousands are waiting, including others in the Fredericksburg area--visit livingdonors.org or call 800/622-9010.

Information about kidney donation will be available at an art show honoring Rendich in May, at 810 Caroline St. in Fredericksburg. Ten percent of the proceeds will go to the National Kidney Foundation.

To donate a kidney you must be between 21 and 60 and have no family history of kidney disease. OTHER DETAILS:

All costs of any medical expenses are covered by the recipient's insurance.

Besides physical tests, psychological tests are performed to make sure reasons for donation are altruistic.

A prospective donor can decide against donation at any time.

There is a 97 percent patient survival rate for kidney recipients from a live donor, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

The procedure--a laparoscopic nephrectomy--involves doctors making small incisions in the abdomen. The surgery takes three to four hours.

A donor will be in the hospital on average for two to four days and can return to work in about a month.

--livingdonorsonline.org

Date published: 3/30/2008

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