September 2, 2024 • 39 mins
A chronic kidney condition leaves a college co-ed convinced she was going to die.
Find out how her Ohio State sorority sister went from Greek life to SAVING her life!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I am Kate Hudson and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Relationship and what it's like to be siblings. We are
a sibling. Ravalry.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
No, no, sibling, don't do that with your mouth.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Vely, that's good. We live forever. No, and you care
that we did it all for the glory of love.
We did it all for love. That's Peter Satara from
(00:53):
Karate Kid Part two. I have no idea why I
was singing that, but just popped in to my head.
I know why. I was driving back from Colorado and
I was listening to random music and that song popped up,
and that's why it's in my head. I loved karate
(01:15):
Kid too. I love that song. I love like weird,
cheesy like ballads. Oh god, I'm hungry anyway. So I
am home in my house and already looking forward to
(01:37):
labor day because I don't want to labor anymore, even
though I haven't labored all summer. I just I want
to just keep partying, you know what I mean. I mean,
I'm producing stuff for Fox like things are good. I
needed a fucking acting job, I'll tell you that right now,
though I mean it's in November, it will be too. Actually,
(02:00):
I am doing a movie. I am doing a movie
in October. I don't know if I'm allowed to say
what it is or not yet, so I'm not going to.
But it's pretty fucking exciting for me. It's three weeks.
It's not a big part or anything, but it's it's uh,
it's a movie that I think anyone would want to
(02:22):
be a part of. I'll say that I might even
be able to say what it is, but I'm not
going to because I don't want to get in trouble.
But yeah, so aside from that, I I don't want
to labor. I think it's been a detriment to me
in my career. But whatever, I'm having fun. I choose fun.
I choose fun over everything, you know. I choose fun.
(02:45):
In fact, Labor day, I think I'm getting out of
town and I might go to Montana because I love
to fly fish. I've been looking. I found I found this,
like this really cool cabin like right on the river
(03:07):
on Airbnb. Airbbb is fun, by the way. Airbnb is
almost like scrolling through Instagram, except it's just houses. Because
what's cool about it is like you can dream, you
dream up a place that you would like to go.
(03:27):
You know, let's just say Montana, because I've never really
I've been in Montana. Fish Montana. I'm like, oh, it's
just like Airbnb, like, oh, what's out there? And then
you can sort of, you know, see what the most
expensive things are that you would never get anyway. So anyway,
Airbnb is almost like you can lose yourself in it,
and it's kind of this wish fulfillment thing. Anyway, I'm rambling.
(03:51):
People have probably hung up by now. If the podcast
was a phone, you might have hung up because this
intro sucks. But who cares. We're getting We got some
girls in the room, sorority sisters, really interesting story and
(04:11):
Jess and Meghan, we're going to talk to them. Kidneys
are being exchanged given and let's hear their story bringing it. Hey, Hey, hey,
how are you guys good? How are you good?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Good?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Thank you for coming on to tell your story.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Absolutely, thanks for having yeah, thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yes, for having us a sibling show. But you are
sorority sisters, so the word sister is enough to bring
you on and allow this to maintain and stay within
the confines of what this show is, because you.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Are, I thought, so, yes.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So where are you guys? First of all, we're both
in Ohio.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
I'm in Cincinnati, Megan's in Columbus, Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And how long ago were you in your SWARTI just
so I get a sense of this.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
What two thousand, oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Twenty years ago? Twenty years again?
Speaker 4 (05:19):
I graduated in twenty ten, okay, And I graduated.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
In two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So let's hear the story. First of all, let's let's
even go back to the sorority where you met, how
you hit it off, how you became homies, you know,
and how twenty plus years later we've gotten to this place.
How you guys have connected, have you stayed, had you stayed?
Amazing friends? Just give me the give me the overall,
(05:50):
give me the cliff notes.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
We met when we were both in the sorority Pi
Beta Pi at Ohio State, and I was drawn to
Jess because she was just so much fun. She loved
techno music and going out and dancing, and she knew
how to have a good time. And so we really
hit it off, and we had a great group of
girls that we were friends with through college and after
(06:13):
that we saw each other for a while afterwards when
people were getting married. There were a lot of weddings
things like that, So that was actually the last time
we saw each other in person was ten years ago
at one of our friend's weddings.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And then again, yeah, I had moved after college.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I moved to Phoenix, and I lived in Phoenix for
eleven years, so I really didn't I didn't travel home much,
so I saw people. I'd come home for football games
or Christmas and see people, but me.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And Megan never really were able to connect.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
So then in September of twenty twenty three, that's when
I was diagnosed. And I was living in Charlotte at
the time, so I moved from Phoenix to Charlotte during
COVID And yeah, and so I was diagnosed when I
was in Charlotte in twenty September twenty twenty three, so
(07:10):
almost a year ago.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So what were you diagnosed with?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, in stage renal disease,
so basically stage five or four whatever of chronic kidney disease.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
How did you how did you discover this? How did
this all start.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
So to make a long story short, in twenty twenty one,
I was diagnosed with sea diff which is I don't
know if you know, it's like a bacterial infection in
you're intestine.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And I was in the ICU for thirty one.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Days then and half because the hospital kind of screwed
up some things. And so when I was in the
hospital for that, my kidney function was fine. Two years
later I had shingles and it was on my face,
covering my face. And so when I had shingles and
(08:08):
I was in the hospital, then they said that my
kidney function was low, so to go to a kidney doctor.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Just see a kidney doctor regularly to keep an eye
on it.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
That was in the beginning of twenty twenty three, So
twenty twenty three up until April, I was going to
the kidney doctor, but they weren't really concerned.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
It kind of was staying the same. In April of
twenty three.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I lost my job, so I lost my health insurance,
so I stopped going to the doctor. So come September
of twenty twenty three, I started noticing I was tired
all the time, sleeping all the time. I had stopped
gurinating and then my knees started to go dumb, or
my legs started to go numb from my knees down.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And that lasted for like a week, and I was
just like, you know, just kind of blew it off.
Was like, oh, maybe I'm not getting enough exercise, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
And on the opposite of you, if that would have happened,
I would be like, oh, I fucking like literally run yeah, yeah,
oh oh my god, like a haymail. I'm like, is
it cancer? Like I I mean, if I'm if I'm
if I can't pee, I'm exhausted, and I'm numb from
(09:28):
the knees down, I would not be like, eh, it's
so good.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
That lasted for a week, and then it started started
to move to my hands, and so then it got
to the point where I was having I was living
by myself, just me and my dog. I was having
a hard time taking care of my dog. I was
taking having a hard time making.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Coffee in the morning.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
So my brother lives in Charlotte too, so I called
him and I was like, hey, you know, sometime's not right.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
We need to go to the emergency room. So we went.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
They took me back immediately Drew blood, did a thousand tests,
and they came back and they were like, you you
have chronic kidney disease. You need to start dialysis immediately.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And I was like, what you know? I didn't know.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I'm just ignorant on kidneys and kidney disease and dialysis
and being my age, who you know, who would have
thought you don't hear of young people getting kidney disease
and being on dialysis?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Mm hmm. Wow, that's crazy. I mean it sort of
throws life upside down and you're like, wait a minute,
like what does this mean completely?
Speaker 4 (10:41):
I thought it was like I thought it was death.
I thought it was in sentence. I didn't I had
no idea. So I was there at the hospital by myself,
and I just started googling kidney disease and I started
looking on Instagram, like young people on dialysis, young people
with kidney disease, and I couldn't find anything, just generic
(11:02):
posts from the National Kidney Foundation or things like that,
but nothing.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Like I could relate to.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Was this a cumulative thing from sort of your intestinal issue?
I mean, was this all playing a part in it?
Speaker 4 (11:15):
I found out later that it was that seaediff can
cause harm to your kidneys, and it can hurt your kidneys,
But no one had ever, you know, told me that,
And I guess it's my own ignorance for not looking
it up or but who would have thought.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You know, would have there been anything you could do
about it if you had caught it early, or you know,
you understood that seed iff might cause something like this,
or was this just a foregone conclusion.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
I think it's just yeah, it is what it is,
because once your kidneys go, they kind of just.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Go, I mean yeah, and was it one both of them?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
So yeah, so they took when I was that diagnosed,
the first thing they did was took me to get
a kidney biopsy to make sure to confirm what they
had found with my blood work. And so they said
one of my kidneys was full of crystallized assists, which
are basically just kind of like kidney stones, I guess,
(12:16):
and the other one was just completely dead. And in
college and after college, I had had kidney stones like
four or five times, so that was kind of like,
you know, like you start seeing all the flags and
things from before. But I mean I had been tested
and my kidney function was fine. In twenty twenty one,
(12:39):
and then just all of a sudden, it went to shit.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Wow, And then Megan, how did Megan, how did you
come into the picture? How did this all come about?
Because you hadn't seen each other in ten years or
even talked or anything.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Right, Yeah, yeah, we'd seen in touch on social media,
mainly on Instagram, just keeping up with each other's lives
in general, sending messages that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And I saw that Jess started posting things about kidney
disease and kidney awareness, and so I sent her a
message and said, if you or your family's looking for
a donor, please let me know. It's something that I'd
listened to some podcasts and read about it in the
past and always thought like, wow, that's something I could do.
(13:33):
I'm fairly healthy, we don't have any kidney related problems
in my family. So when I saw Jess post, I
knew her from college, and I'd gotten to know her family.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
In college too.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
They are also just an absolute blast, and so if
it was I was, I just immediately was drawn to
help if I could, And so once I saw that
Instagram post, I reached out.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
To Jacks for more information. Match mm hmmm, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And then so it's the everything's going through Christ Hospital
in Cincinnati, and they have been absolutely wonderful. I reached
out to them and did it was about an eleven
page questionnaire that was like everything from health history to
why are you doing this? What's your relationship to the
person you're looking to do this for? Just very comprehensive,
(14:27):
and then I did a blood draw and actually shipped
that down to them, And after that is when I
got the call that I was a preliminary match, which
was really exciting, but then at that point you schedule
more testing.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So it was really hard.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But I didn't tell Jess at that point that we
had matched it all because I was worried at the
next step if something happened. I didn't want I didn't
want there to be disappointment or you know, if it
didn't work out.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Somebody is rare or is it you know, is it
is it hard to match with someone you know? I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yes, it's pretty rare.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
My niece is a nurse, and so she was kind
of helping me through this process and she was setting
me up when I did the blood draw, like, don't
be surprised if you don't match. It's very uncommon for
people who aren't related. And luckily Jess and I have
the same blood type. We're both a positive, so I
think that that helps if you're the same blood type match.
(15:30):
But even if you're not, there's still ways you can donate,
so it is not super common, I guess to match,
especially if you're not related.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But markers can't to be a match. You know, obviously
it's there's blood, but maybe not just blood. What has
to how does it all have to line up for
you to be a match.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I know it's blood type, and then it's something within
the blood that they test. Once they told me I
was a man, which I asked for more details and
they said with HIPPA, they can't really tell you much
about like how well you met.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I think it's there's like tissue typing that's in there
and antibodies and things like that, like how what my
antibio bodies are, if they're high or not, and if
i'll reject the organ. So I think it's very scientific
and detailed, but they're all they're really hush hush, like Megan.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Said, with details, So wow, I mean, it's unbelievable that
you would even sign up for this, But what a
human being you are. Holy shit, man, I mean, it's
really amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It's incredible you who thinking was like she kept the
whole thing so quiet, like I had even forgotten that
she had asked me about like because I had other
people reaching out and I was trying to, you know,
like keep everything in line and order and remember who
was doing what, and I didn't know. I didn't want
(17:04):
to ask anybody that said they were testing because I
didn't want them a to feel guilty if they decided
not to or feel bad if they didn't match. So
I just was kind of like left in the dark,
and she was so good at keeping it quiet.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
It like blew my mind. I got the FaceTime from her.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, when you found out you were more than a
preliminary match and this was actually a go a green light,
was there any part of you that was like, oh shit,
Not at all?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
No, Luckily, not at all. I had gotten to the
point where I figured once I went down to the
hospital and did in person testing, like I was in
like if I was doing that step, like, my decision
was made. So at that point I had already I
felt really comfortable with my decision. But it's funny you
say that because my husband before we FaceTime Jess, he
(18:02):
stopped and looked at me. He's like, I just want
to make sure you're going to do this right.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Okay, So when you got the FaceTime, yeah, I'm sure
it's an unforgettable face time.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Unforgettable, Like, yeah, I thought she was calling just to
be like I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I tested and I didn't match.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
I wanted to tell you in person or you know,
just like checking up on me. And it was my
birthday two days before, so I was like, oh, maybe
she's calling to say happy birthday or something like that.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
So it was a shock a shot.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
I'm so glad that her husband recorded it because that's great.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah. Yeah, well walk me through, walk me through the FaceTime.
So how did Megan? How did you break the news?
You know what I mean? Like, hey, it's me, Like,
guess what or what did you plan anything?
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I had a whole like lovely soliloquy planned. I had
all these things I was going to say, and then
as soon as I saw her on the FaceTime, I
just cheered up and I was like I have to
tell you on the match, Like it just immediately started
coming out, so I just said, you know, just hello,
and then I told her it was a match, and
just like being able to see the shock turn into
(19:25):
the excitement it was.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It was so.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Fun, and the fact that her mom was there too
and got to pop in and say hi. It was
so good to be able to see her. And I
mean just I can't even describe the feeling.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It's just wow, pretty incredible. Yeah, like shock. I couldn't
even I couldn't even say anything.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
I was just like, I love you, was like, you're
no way, Like because I had had someone tell me
a stranger, because I had been putting out like my
daily life on dialysis on Instagram to try to find
a and so I had this girl who was a stranger,
a friend of a friend tell me like three weeks
prior that she was a match, but there were better
(20:10):
matches so to like be on hold.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And so when Meghan said she was a match, I
was like, oh, like is she the one?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Like that's why in the video.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I'm just kind of like, uh when it sunk in
when she said, I said, so, what next, and she goes, well,
the doctor said, we can schedule, you know, we can
talk about scheduling.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And that's when I was like, holy shit, like this
is this is it?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Like, oh my god, it's happening finally because I had
that I thank you for nine months prior to that.
So I started dialysis in September of twenty three and
she told me on June thirteenth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Four, Wow, yeah, and so what did what? Will this
new kidney give you life?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Really, it'll give me my life back.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Yeah, I'm in dialysis for I'm in dialysis three days
a week for three and a half hours at a time.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And I'm thirty seven years old. I want to have
a family. I want to get married, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Have kids, get my job back, and move on with
my life.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Like I lived in Phoenix for eleven years, like I said,
and then I was in Charlotte for a year and
a half. And I'm it's real hard being thirty seven
in back of your parents.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
How yeah yeah yeah, So this donation will literally give
you your life.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Give me my life back.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, It'll saved in my life because I know we
can all you know, function on one kidney. So this
one kidney, you know, will just boom, You're back to normal.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I'm back normal. Yeah, I can move away.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Again, I can get married, I can have kids as well.
You know, it's hard to get pregnant when you're a
kidney patient or you have a transplant, but I mean
there's so many ways to have kids now.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
That's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
So yeah, So my goal, my plan is after transplant
and I recover recovery. They say you need to stay
pretty close to the hospital for about nine months to
a year after transplant. But my goal after that is
to move up to Columbus, back to Columbus where Megan is,
(22:32):
and just start life over there at too.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Wow amazing. And then I know kidneys take pretty well, right,
So what are the odds. The odds all on your
side as far as rejection, As far as taking, I mean,
how does that work with the kidney.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
They test your antibodies and that kind of sees how
well you'll accept.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
The new organ.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
But of course, anything for and you put in your body,
no matter what it is, you're going to try to
reject it. So I'll be on really strong immunosuppressants for
the rest of my life. And there's you know, side
effects that come with everything, and there's a few silly
things like I can never eat grapefruit or star fruit again.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Really yeah, like.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Weird shit, like it's like a diuretic, I mean is
that yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah. And so because I was asking the doctors, I
was like, so, is there anything like I can't do?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
You know, like could I go surfing? Could I you know,
go mountain biking? Whatever?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Is there anything I can't do? And they're like, no,
you can live, you know, just don't eat like.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Stoney star yeah, like ghost skydiving, but just don't eat
a star fruit when you land, right, Yeah, totally. Yeah.
So when is the surgery scheduled.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
For November twelfth?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Yeah, so we have eighty two days.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I'm pretty sure I think it's we're down to eighty
two days. So we're said, I'll bear the crazy thing,
which you probably don't know this or maybe you do
with kidney surgery.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
We'll go in. This is wild to they think about.
We go in at the same time, like in different rooms.
They get Megan's kidney and they put it in a
pan and walk it over and then I don't I keep.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Both of my old kidneys and they just put the
new one in like down by my bladder.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
See, you have three kidneys.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
So I essentially have three kidneys. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And then Megan, the recovery for you is probably just
not really anything, right, I mean.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Nothing compared to Jess's recovery. I'll be in the hospital
overnight and then they said usually people leave the next
day as long as nothing goes wrong.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And then I'm out of.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Work for six to eight weeks. And that's really it.
And I've been super lucky with my job. I work
for a judge at the courthouse, and they have all
been so incredibly supportive and that has been that was
really helpful in making this decision, just knowing that it
wasn't a worry to get time off work or schedule.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Anything like that. This is like, I don't know, this
is pretty amazing. And then have you guys, You guys
have talked in the last ten years, but have you
seen each other? You have?
Speaker 4 (25:36):
We just saw each other for the first time on
in the end of June, I think like two weeks
after I found out, and Megan's mom was in town
from Indiana, and Megan was like, can.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
We FaceTime you?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
My mom would love to meet you, because I had
never met her mom, or maybe I met her in
college I can't remember, but my.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Dad was like, well, how about we just drive up
to Columbus and we can do face to face. So
I was like hell yeah, like let's go.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
So we went and finally got to reconnect and it
was amazing that reunion, Like why do you think someone
you know, how do you think somebody for safe?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It's it's almost impossible. You know, are you moving to
Columbus So so you guys are near, are you You'll
be in the same place?
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Yeah, trying to see if the house next to Megan
goes up for sale and I'm there.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
I'm to Columbus.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
No, this is I mean, like I said, I was
in Phoenix and then I was in Charlotte, and I
had planned on staying and Charlotte forever.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
But now I just, like I said, this is life.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Changing and it makes you value you know, all of
our family. Your family is everything. And so my family's
here in Cincinnati and my brother's in Charlotte, and it.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Just it makes sense now. So and and.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I never had like really great jobs or anything in
Phoenix or Charlotte, so there's no like reason like why.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
And I know Columbus I lived.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
There for five years in college and all my friends
are still there and there's great work opportunities there.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So and now you can be best best best friends
because I'm a part of her, I mean sisters.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
Like yeah, blood yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Oh my god, amazing yeah, what amazing, beautiful inspiring story.
And Megan, is was your husband at all? Like, babe,
I mean, I know you're you're a scant and I
know you, but but are you sure? I mean, was
did he have any hesitations at all? And do you
(28:07):
have kids?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
By the way, Okay, I do not have kids.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
And luckily he didn't have any hesitations none. He was
just kind of like, if it's something that you've looked
into and you feel safe doing it, I'll support you.
So if he had any he at least kept them
to himself. But he never said anything like always very
behind me and supportive. And I was super lucky. My
family was the same way, both of my parents, my siblings.
(28:34):
Like when I told people, everyone, wow, Megan's husband is great.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
There's a photo of me, Megan, my mom and her
husband shotgunning beers at his paternity.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
That is awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
We go way back.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's so great. I had to remind him. I was like,
were you able to drink alcohol?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I'm not right now, but after surgery, I will be
able to.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
But when you were, when you were in dialysis and stuff,
I mean no, right or could you.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Oh yeah no, like right now again dialysis like no way?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah. Yeah, So this is nice too, like you can
get wasted again.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
That's that's like the funny thing because Megan said, like
one of the first questions she asked the surgeons or
the doctors at Christ like during her meeting, was I
drink alcohol like after this, like because we're celebrating, after.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
This is over, Like we are, of course.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Celebrating, like va, I'm the first plane to Hawaii. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
It's like once you get the green light, all systems
go like shot shots at tequila. Let me just get
fucking hammered.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
Yeah exact, let's see how good?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Of course, No, but it is really awesome. I mean,
forget about how incredible the story is, and you know,
the fact that you are even doing this, Megan is amazing.
But even for you just just having this sort of
new life, you know what I mean, it's almost it's
(30:28):
like you're a child again in the sense of holy shit,
I can do anything that I want to do. I'll
be pain free, I can go to Hawaii. I mean
it's must be so exciting. I mean, well, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Especially because right now, like.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Life is just so wild, the twist and turns that
it throws you, like I mean, I like I said,
never did I think I'd be talking to you last year,
you know, laying on like what I thought my deathbed,
Like it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
And to be able to just look at life differently.
And I've had a huge lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Change because I don't, like, if you know anything about
kidney disease, like being on dialysis, the diet is so strict.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
It's a renal diet I can't have.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
So it has to be low sodium or no sodium,
which you know it's in literally.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Every everything, yeah, everything.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
And then it's no potassium and no phosphorus, so like
no bananas, no oranges, no deli meats, no tomatoes, Like
it's basically like just it's like plain chicken and broccoli
and like eggs and that's it. Like no cheese, no dairy,
no you know, like no fun and then no and
(31:52):
no no alcohol, and then two with since I don't
since I retain all my fluid, you have to drink
like only a certain amount every day, so I can't
have more than twenty four ounces of any sort of
liquid all day. Oh so like my freaking coffee in
(32:13):
the morning is like this much, and then I just
like eat ice a lot because it's yeah, like it sucks.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
So can you smoke weed?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
No, but I thought about it.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
It became very wow wow.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Became a little ohio. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Well, I mean I'm excited. Yeah, like you.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Said, it's like being a kid again, and it's like
to this new lifestyle change is kind of what I
want to include, you know, going forward, because it's just
a healthy way of life.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
I walk like seven to ten miles a day.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
I do an hour pilates a day, like even on
dialysis days, and I don't have well, Like what the
fuck else am I gonna do? I can't work, so
I'm like, might as well be in the best shape
I can be so I can recover well, and God
forbid it, I have to go through this again, you know,
because sometimes kidneys.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Don't last your entire life.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Like I want to be able to be healthy enough
to get a transplant again if I have to.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Hopefully I never have to.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
But that's the other thing is it's the testing is
so rigorous. Yeah, to be a recipient, they test you
oliver from head to toe, like you got to go
to the dentist and make sure you have no infections
in your mouth. You gotta do a mammogram, papsiere altrasounds
like literally if there's a list they give you at
(33:49):
your meeting pre transplant, and you have to go through
all this testing.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
There's about fifteen different.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Tests, those included, and then they decide if you're healthy
enough to be on the list. Wow, and then they
put you on the transplant list. And there's one hundred
and twenty five thousand people waiting on the transplant list
and only about twenty five thousand like organs like living donors,
(34:17):
so the so the rest will get to sea stoners,
and you really don't want to see stoner because there's
limited testing. Sometimes you have to do dialysis after transplant
to kind of like kick start at the kidney because
it's been on ice for who knows, and they just
don't last as long as the living donor does. So
(34:40):
that was my mission and why I was so like
putting shit on Instagram all the time because I was like,
I've got to find a live donor. I'm young, like,
like I said, I don't want to go through this again.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah yeah, yeah, so you're on the list. If you're
on the list, you're just waiting for somebody. But if
you find someone, then you there's no list, like obviously. Yeah.
Megan's like, oh boom, let's go.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
So some people are on the list for one to
five years.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
It just depends when their match dies, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
So that's why we two are doing this, and we're
we want to interview with as many people as we
can because we just want to be the face and
spread the word about organ donation and how important it
is and even blood donation.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Megan is a fucking saint. She texted me the other
day and she's like, hey, I'm.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
Giving blood and I'm like, well, the only reason I
even thought to is because you inspired me to.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
So good news, I'm giving my other kidney. Like you can't,
you can't do that. You would, that's just.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
She would.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
This is so great. Well it's an inspiring story and
you know, you getting your life back is even exciting
for me. You know, not that I wish I was
in your position, but at the same time, I'm like, ooh,
you get to experience all of these things almost for
the first time again, Like that's awesome. And you know,
of course everything happens for reasons, and you know this
(36:23):
is a blessing. But the silver lining and all of
it now that you do have, Megan, is that you
have learned to you know, eat correctly, you walk, you know,
you now know what it's like like you are in
a healthy place. You know what I'm saying, Like you
have kickstarted that kind of lifestyle for yourself, which is awesome. Yeah,
(36:46):
you know, And of course, Megan, I mean, jeez, amazing.
You guys are awesome. You're an inspiration and I hope
people can listen to this and not be afraid, but
not be afraid because I'm afraid. And you know, Megan's like, no,
fuck that, there's no fear, like I have to I
can get rid of one and save someone's life. I mean, yeah,
(37:09):
it's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
Yeah, it's an amazing realizing only do need one kidney
to live, and like there are people that are born
with just one kidney and it's if they so when
they take Megan's kidney, her other kidney will like kick
into gear and do more work for the lack of.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
You know, the other one.
Speaker 4 (37:31):
The human body is pretty incredible, yeah, what it can do.
Speaker 7 (37:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
And there aren't major restrictions afterwards either, which like just
that I can still drink after which is great. And
it's just kind of basic like don't eat like shit, yeah,
don't eat a lot of sodium, like pretty much stuff
that I try to do anyway, So it's not a
huge lifestyle shift for the donor.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Thank you guys so much for telling your story and
coming on. I really appreciate it. This was awesome, you know,
both an inspiration and you know, hopefully people give more kidneys.
Speaker 7 (38:12):
Yeah or blooder or blood or anything. Yeah, all right, good,
I appreciate you guys. Good luck in November. I'm sure
it's going to be amazing. I'm sure it's all going
to take and be beautiful and then within nine months you're.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Going to be partying and having the part.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Well, we'll come back to California.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, let me know. If you're out here, I'll come
have a few cocktails. All right, guys, see you later
all right, thanks Oliver, all right, thank you. Ye wow,
cool aspiring, very nice. Man. I'd give a kidney, I mean,
(38:53):
would I Yeah, I'd give a kidney to my family member.
I'd give a kidney do like a best friend probably,
you know, if John or Jesse or Alex or Brian
or Mark, you know, needed a kidney and I was
a match saying fuck it, take my goddamn kidney. Take
my kidney. But you know what you're gonna pay for it,
(39:14):
you know, now you owe me everything. Like That's how
I would do it. I'd be like, Mark, look, you
can have my kidney, but it's going to cost you,
you know, just you need to weigh this out. You
can have my kidney, but now, oh man, I can.
(39:35):
You've got to do everything that I want, you know.
It's kind of a nice, kind of a nice thing. Anyway,
those girls were amazing, really inspiring, and I wish them
the best of luck in November and hopefully I get
an update. All Right, I'm out, piece
Hi.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I am Kate Hudson and my name is Oliver Hudson.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
We wanted to do something that highlighted our.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Relationship and what it's like to be siblings. We are
a sibling. Ravalry.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
No, no, sibling, don't do that with your mouth.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Vely, that's good. We live forever. No, and you care
that we did it all for the glory of love.
We did it all for love. That's Peter Satara from
(00:53):
Karate Kid Part two. I have no idea why I
was singing that, but just popped in to my head.
I know why. I was driving back from Colorado and
I was listening to random music and that song popped up,
and that's why it's in my head. I loved karate
(01:15):
Kid too. I love that song. I love like weird,
cheesy like ballads. Oh god, I'm hungry anyway. So I
am home in my house and already looking forward to
(01:37):
labor day because I don't want to labor anymore, even
though I haven't labored all summer. I just I want
to just keep partying, you know what I mean. I mean,
I'm producing stuff for Fox like things are good. I
needed a fucking acting job, I'll tell you that right now,
though I mean it's in November, it will be too. Actually,
(02:00):
I am doing a movie. I am doing a movie
in October. I don't know if I'm allowed to say
what it is or not yet, so I'm not going to.
But it's pretty fucking exciting for me. It's three weeks.
It's not a big part or anything, but it's it's uh,
it's a movie that I think anyone would want to
(02:22):
be a part of. I'll say that I might even
be able to say what it is, but I'm not
going to because I don't want to get in trouble.
But yeah, so aside from that, I I don't want
to labor. I think it's been a detriment to me
in my career. But whatever, I'm having fun. I choose fun.
I choose fun over everything, you know. I choose fun.
(02:45):
In fact, Labor day, I think I'm getting out of
town and I might go to Montana because I love
to fly fish. I've been looking. I found I found this,
like this really cool cabin like right on the river
(03:07):
on Airbnb. Airbbb is fun, by the way. Airbnb is
almost like scrolling through Instagram, except it's just houses. Because
what's cool about it is like you can dream, you
dream up a place that you would like to go.
(03:27):
You know, let's just say Montana, because I've never really
I've been in Montana. Fish Montana. I'm like, oh, it's
just like Airbnb, like, oh, what's out there? And then
you can sort of, you know, see what the most
expensive things are that you would never get anyway. So anyway,
Airbnb is almost like you can lose yourself in it,
and it's kind of this wish fulfillment thing. Anyway, I'm rambling.
(03:51):
People have probably hung up by now. If the podcast
was a phone, you might have hung up because this
intro sucks. But who cares. We're getting We got some
girls in the room, sorority sisters, really interesting story and
(04:11):
Jess and Meghan, we're going to talk to them. Kidneys
are being exchanged given and let's hear their story bringing it. Hey, Hey, hey,
how are you guys good? How are you good?
Speaker 4 (04:29):
Good?
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Thank you for coming on to tell your story.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Absolutely, thanks for having yeah, thanks for having us.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yes, for having us a sibling show. But you are
sorority sisters, so the word sister is enough to bring
you on and allow this to maintain and stay within
the confines of what this show is, because you.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Are, I thought, so, yes.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
So where are you guys? First of all, we're both
in Ohio.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
I'm in Cincinnati, Megan's in Columbus, Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
And how long ago were you in your SWARTI just
so I get a sense of this.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
What two thousand, oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Twenty years ago? Twenty years again?
Speaker 4 (05:19):
I graduated in twenty ten, okay, And I graduated.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
In two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
So let's hear the story. First of all, let's let's
even go back to the sorority where you met, how
you hit it off, how you became homies, you know,
and how twenty plus years later we've gotten to this place.
How you guys have connected, have you stayed, had you stayed?
Amazing friends? Just give me the give me the overall,
(05:50):
give me the cliff notes.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
We met when we were both in the sorority Pi
Beta Pi at Ohio State, and I was drawn to
Jess because she was just so much fun. She loved
techno music and going out and dancing, and she knew
how to have a good time. And so we really
hit it off, and we had a great group of
girls that we were friends with through college and after
(06:13):
that we saw each other for a while afterwards when
people were getting married. There were a lot of weddings
things like that, So that was actually the last time
we saw each other in person was ten years ago
at one of our friend's weddings.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
And then again, yeah, I had moved after college.
Speaker 4 (06:32):
I moved to Phoenix, and I lived in Phoenix for
eleven years, so I really didn't I didn't travel home much,
so I saw people. I'd come home for football games
or Christmas and see people, but me.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
And Megan never really were able to connect.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
So then in September of twenty twenty three, that's when
I was diagnosed. And I was living in Charlotte at
the time, so I moved from Phoenix to Charlotte during
COVID And yeah, and so I was diagnosed when I
was in Charlotte in twenty September twenty twenty three, so
(07:10):
almost a year ago.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
So what were you diagnosed with?
Speaker 3 (07:14):
I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease, in stage renal disease,
so basically stage five or four whatever of chronic kidney disease.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
How did you how did you discover this? How did
this all start.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
So to make a long story short, in twenty twenty one,
I was diagnosed with sea diff which is I don't
know if you know, it's like a bacterial infection in
you're intestine.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
And I was in the ICU for thirty one.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Days then and half because the hospital kind of screwed
up some things. And so when I was in the
hospital for that, my kidney function was fine. Two years
later I had shingles and it was on my face,
covering my face. And so when I had shingles and
(08:08):
I was in the hospital, then they said that my
kidney function was low, so to go to a kidney doctor.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Just see a kidney doctor regularly to keep an eye
on it.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
That was in the beginning of twenty twenty three, So
twenty twenty three up until April, I was going to
the kidney doctor, but they weren't really concerned.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
It kind of was staying the same. In April of
twenty three.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
I lost my job, so I lost my health insurance,
so I stopped going to the doctor. So come September
of twenty twenty three, I started noticing I was tired
all the time, sleeping all the time. I had stopped
gurinating and then my knees started to go dumb, or
my legs started to go numb from my knees down.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
And that lasted for like a week, and I was
just like, you know, just kind of blew it off.
Was like, oh, maybe I'm not getting enough exercise, you know.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
And on the opposite of you, if that would have happened,
I would be like, oh, I fucking like literally run yeah, yeah,
oh oh my god, like a haymail. I'm like, is
it cancer? Like I I mean, if I'm if I'm
if I can't pee, I'm exhausted, and I'm numb from
(09:28):
the knees down, I would not be like, eh, it's
so good.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
That lasted for a week, and then it started started
to move to my hands, and so then it got
to the point where I was having I was living
by myself, just me and my dog. I was having
a hard time taking care of my dog. I was
taking having a hard time making.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
Coffee in the morning.
Speaker 4 (09:50):
So my brother lives in Charlotte too, so I called
him and I was like, hey, you know, sometime's not right.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
We need to go to the emergency room. So we went.
Speaker 4 (09:59):
They took me back immediately Drew blood, did a thousand tests,
and they came back and they were like, you you
have chronic kidney disease. You need to start dialysis immediately.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
And I was like, what you know? I didn't know.
Speaker 4 (10:15):
I'm just ignorant on kidneys and kidney disease and dialysis
and being my age, who you know, who would have
thought you don't hear of young people getting kidney disease
and being on dialysis?
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Mm hmm. Wow, that's crazy. I mean it sort of
throws life upside down and you're like, wait a minute,
like what does this mean completely?
Speaker 4 (10:41):
I thought it was like I thought it was death.
I thought it was in sentence. I didn't I had
no idea. So I was there at the hospital by myself,
and I just started googling kidney disease and I started
looking on Instagram, like young people on dialysis, young people
with kidney disease, and I couldn't find anything, just generic
(11:02):
posts from the National Kidney Foundation or things like that,
but nothing.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
Like I could relate to.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Was this a cumulative thing from sort of your intestinal issue?
I mean, was this all playing a part in it?
Speaker 4 (11:15):
I found out later that it was that seaediff can
cause harm to your kidneys, and it can hurt your kidneys,
But no one had ever, you know, told me that,
And I guess it's my own ignorance for not looking
it up or but who would have thought.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
You know, would have there been anything you could do
about it if you had caught it early, or you know,
you understood that seed iff might cause something like this,
or was this just a foregone conclusion.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
I think it's just yeah, it is what it is,
because once your kidneys go, they kind of just.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
Go, I mean yeah, and was it one both of them?
Speaker 4 (11:53):
So yeah, so they took when I was that diagnosed,
the first thing they did was took me to get
a kidney biopsy to make sure to confirm what they
had found with my blood work. And so they said
one of my kidneys was full of crystallized assists, which
are basically just kind of like kidney stones, I guess,
(12:16):
and the other one was just completely dead. And in
college and after college, I had had kidney stones like
four or five times, so that was kind of like,
you know, like you start seeing all the flags and
things from before. But I mean I had been tested
and my kidney function was fine. In twenty twenty one,
(12:39):
and then just all of a sudden, it went to shit.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Wow, And then Megan, how did Megan, how did you
come into the picture? How did this all come about?
Because you hadn't seen each other in ten years or
even talked or anything.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Right, Yeah, yeah, we'd seen in touch on social media,
mainly on Instagram, just keeping up with each other's lives
in general, sending messages that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
And I saw that Jess started posting things about kidney
disease and kidney awareness, and so I sent her a
message and said, if you or your family's looking for
a donor, please let me know. It's something that I'd
listened to some podcasts and read about it in the
past and always thought like, wow, that's something I could do.
(13:33):
I'm fairly healthy, we don't have any kidney related problems
in my family. So when I saw Jess post, I
knew her from college, and I'd gotten to know her family.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
In college too.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
They are also just an absolute blast, and so if
it was I was, I just immediately was drawn to
help if I could, And so once I saw that
Instagram post, I reached out.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
To Jacks for more information. Match mm hmmm, yep.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
And then so it's the everything's going through Christ Hospital
in Cincinnati, and they have been absolutely wonderful. I reached
out to them and did it was about an eleven
page questionnaire that was like everything from health history to
why are you doing this? What's your relationship to the
person you're looking to do this for? Just very comprehensive,
(14:27):
and then I did a blood draw and actually shipped
that down to them, And after that is when I
got the call that I was a preliminary match, which
was really exciting, but then at that point you schedule
more testing.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
So it was really hard.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
But I didn't tell Jess at that point that we
had matched it all because I was worried at the
next step if something happened. I didn't want I didn't
want there to be disappointment or you know, if it
didn't work out.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Somebody is rare or is it you know, is it
is it hard to match with someone you know? I
don't know.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yes, it's pretty rare.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
My niece is a nurse, and so she was kind
of helping me through this process and she was setting
me up when I did the blood draw, like, don't
be surprised if you don't match. It's very uncommon for
people who aren't related. And luckily Jess and I have
the same blood type. We're both a positive, so I
think that that helps if you're the same blood type match.
(15:30):
But even if you're not, there's still ways you can donate,
so it is not super common, I guess to match,
especially if you're not related.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
But markers can't to be a match. You know, obviously
it's there's blood, but maybe not just blood. What has
to how does it all have to line up for
you to be a match.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
I know it's blood type, and then it's something within
the blood that they test. Once they told me I
was a man, which I asked for more details and
they said with HIPPA, they can't really tell you much
about like how well you met.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
I think it's there's like tissue typing that's in there
and antibodies and things like that, like how what my
antibio bodies are, if they're high or not, and if
i'll reject the organ. So I think it's very scientific
and detailed, but they're all they're really hush hush, like Megan.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Said, with details, So wow, I mean, it's unbelievable that
you would even sign up for this, But what a
human being you are. Holy shit, man, I mean, it's
really amazing.
Speaker 4 (16:43):
It's incredible you who thinking was like she kept the
whole thing so quiet, like I had even forgotten that
she had asked me about like because I had other
people reaching out and I was trying to, you know,
like keep everything in line and order and remember who
was doing what, and I didn't know. I didn't want
(17:04):
to ask anybody that said they were testing because I
didn't want them a to feel guilty if they decided
not to or feel bad if they didn't match. So
I just was kind of like left in the dark,
and she was so good at keeping it quiet.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
It like blew my mind. I got the FaceTime from her.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah, when you found out you were more than a
preliminary match and this was actually a go a green light,
was there any part of you that was like, oh shit,
Not at all?
Speaker 1 (17:42):
No, Luckily, not at all. I had gotten to the
point where I figured once I went down to the
hospital and did in person testing, like I was in
like if I was doing that step, like, my decision
was made. So at that point I had already I
felt really comfortable with my decision. But it's funny you
say that because my husband before we FaceTime Jess, he
(18:02):
stopped and looked at me. He's like, I just want
to make sure you're going to do this right.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
Okay, So when you got the FaceTime, yeah, I'm sure
it's an unforgettable face time.
Speaker 4 (18:15):
Unforgettable, Like, yeah, I thought she was calling just to
be like I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
I tested and I didn't match.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
I wanted to tell you in person or you know,
just like checking up on me. And it was my
birthday two days before, so I was like, oh, maybe
she's calling to say happy birthday or something like that.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
So it was a shock a shot.
Speaker 4 (18:41):
I'm so glad that her husband recorded it because that's great.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah. Yeah, well walk me through, walk me through the FaceTime.
So how did Megan? How did you break the news?
You know what I mean? Like, hey, it's me, Like,
guess what or what did you plan anything?
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
I had a whole like lovely soliloquy planned. I had
all these things I was going to say, and then
as soon as I saw her on the FaceTime, I
just cheered up and I was like I have to
tell you on the match, Like it just immediately started
coming out, so I just said, you know, just hello,
and then I told her it was a match, and
just like being able to see the shock turn into
(19:25):
the excitement it was.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
It was so.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Fun, and the fact that her mom was there too
and got to pop in and say hi. It was
so good to be able to see her. And I
mean just I can't even describe the feeling.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
It's just wow, pretty incredible. Yeah, like shock. I couldn't
even I couldn't even say anything.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
I was just like, I love you, was like, you're
no way, Like because I had had someone tell me
a stranger, because I had been putting out like my
daily life on dialysis on Instagram to try to find
a and so I had this girl who was a stranger,
a friend of a friend tell me like three weeks
prior that she was a match, but there were better
(20:10):
matches so to like be on hold.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
And so when Meghan said she was a match, I
was like, oh, like is she the one?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
Like that's why in the video.
Speaker 4 (20:22):
I'm just kind of like, uh when it sunk in
when she said, I said, so, what next, and she goes, well,
the doctor said, we can schedule, you know, we can
talk about scheduling.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
And that's when I was like, holy shit, like this
is this is it?
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Like, oh my god, it's happening finally because I had
that I thank you for nine months prior to that.
So I started dialysis in September of twenty three and
she told me on June thirteenth, twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Four, Wow, yeah, and so what did what? Will this
new kidney give you life?
Speaker 3 (21:01):
Really, it'll give me my life back.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Yeah, I'm in dialysis for I'm in dialysis three days
a week for three and a half hours at a time.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (21:10):
And I'm thirty seven years old. I want to have
a family. I want to get married, you know.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Have kids, get my job back, and move on with
my life.
Speaker 4 (21:21):
Like I lived in Phoenix for eleven years, like I said,
and then I was in Charlotte for a year and
a half. And I'm it's real hard being thirty seven
in back of your parents.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
How yeah yeah yeah, So this donation will literally give
you your life.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Give me my life back.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
Yeah, It'll saved in my life because I know we
can all you know, function on one kidney. So this
one kidney, you know, will just boom, You're back to normal.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
I'm back normal. Yeah, I can move away.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
Again, I can get married, I can have kids as well.
You know, it's hard to get pregnant when you're a
kidney patient or you have a transplant, but I mean
there's so many ways to have kids now.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
That's a great thing.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (22:11):
So yeah, So my goal, my plan is after transplant
and I recover recovery. They say you need to stay
pretty close to the hospital for about nine months to
a year after transplant. But my goal after that is
to move up to Columbus, back to Columbus where Megan is,
(22:32):
and just start life over there at too.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Wow amazing. And then I know kidneys take pretty well, right,
So what are the odds. The odds all on your
side as far as rejection, As far as taking, I mean,
how does that work with the kidney.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
They test your antibodies and that kind of sees how
well you'll accept.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
The new organ.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
But of course, anything for and you put in your body,
no matter what it is, you're going to try to
reject it. So I'll be on really strong immunosuppressants for
the rest of my life. And there's you know, side
effects that come with everything, and there's a few silly
things like I can never eat grapefruit or star fruit again.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Really yeah, like.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Weird shit, like it's like a diuretic, I mean is
that yeah?
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:27):
Yeah. And so because I was asking the doctors, I
was like, so, is there anything like I can't do?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
You know, like could I go surfing? Could I you know,
go mountain biking? Whatever?
Speaker 4 (23:37):
Is there anything I can't do? And they're like, no,
you can live, you know, just don't eat like.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Stoney star yeah, like ghost skydiving, but just don't eat
a star fruit when you land, right, Yeah, totally. Yeah.
So when is the surgery scheduled.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
For November twelfth?
Speaker 2 (23:59):
Wow?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
Yeah, so we have eighty two days.
Speaker 4 (24:02):
I'm pretty sure I think it's we're down to eighty
two days. So we're said, I'll bear the crazy thing,
which you probably don't know this or maybe you do
with kidney surgery.
Speaker 3 (24:14):
We'll go in. This is wild to they think about.
We go in at the same time, like in different rooms.
They get Megan's kidney and they put it in a
pan and walk it over and then I don't I keep.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
Both of my old kidneys and they just put the
new one in like down by my bladder.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
See, you have three kidneys.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
So I essentially have three kidneys. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
And then Megan, the recovery for you is probably just
not really anything, right, I mean.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
Nothing compared to Jess's recovery. I'll be in the hospital
overnight and then they said usually people leave the next
day as long as nothing goes wrong.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
And then I'm out of.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Work for six to eight weeks. And that's really it.
And I've been super lucky with my job. I work
for a judge at the courthouse, and they have all
been so incredibly supportive and that has been that was
really helpful in making this decision, just knowing that it
wasn't a worry to get time off work or schedule.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Anything like that. This is like, I don't know, this
is pretty amazing. And then have you guys, You guys
have talked in the last ten years, but have you
seen each other? You have?
Speaker 4 (25:36):
We just saw each other for the first time on
in the end of June, I think like two weeks
after I found out, and Megan's mom was in town
from Indiana, and Megan was like, can.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
We FaceTime you?
Speaker 4 (25:52):
My mom would love to meet you, because I had
never met her mom, or maybe I met her in
college I can't remember, but my.
Speaker 3 (25:59):
Dad was like, well, how about we just drive up
to Columbus and we can do face to face. So
I was like hell yeah, like let's go.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
So we went and finally got to reconnect and it
was amazing that reunion, Like why do you think someone
you know, how do you think somebody for safe?
Speaker 2 (26:17):
It's it's almost impossible. You know, are you moving to
Columbus So so you guys are near, are you You'll
be in the same place?
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (26:38):
Yeah, trying to see if the house next to Megan
goes up for sale and I'm there.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
I'm to Columbus.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
No, this is I mean, like I said, I was
in Phoenix and then I was in Charlotte, and I
had planned on staying and Charlotte forever.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
But now I just, like I said, this is life.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Changing and it makes you value you know, all of
our family. Your family is everything. And so my family's
here in Cincinnati and my brother's in Charlotte, and it.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Just it makes sense now. So and and.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
I never had like really great jobs or anything in
Phoenix or Charlotte, so there's no like reason like why.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
And I know Columbus I lived.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
There for five years in college and all my friends
are still there and there's great work opportunities there.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
So and now you can be best best best friends
because I'm a part of her, I mean sisters.
Speaker 7 (27:41):
Like yeah, blood yeah.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Oh my god, amazing yeah, what amazing, beautiful inspiring story.
And Megan, is was your husband at all? Like, babe,
I mean, I know you're you're a scant and I
know you, but but are you sure? I mean, was
did he have any hesitations at all? And do you
(28:07):
have kids?
Speaker 3 (28:08):
By the way, Okay, I do not have kids.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
And luckily he didn't have any hesitations none. He was
just kind of like, if it's something that you've looked
into and you feel safe doing it, I'll support you.
So if he had any he at least kept them
to himself. But he never said anything like always very
behind me and supportive. And I was super lucky. My
family was the same way, both of my parents, my siblings.
(28:34):
Like when I told people, everyone, wow, Megan's husband is great.
Speaker 4 (28:39):
There's a photo of me, Megan, my mom and her
husband shotgunning beers at his paternity.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
That is awesome.
Speaker 3 (28:51):
We go way back.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
It's so great. I had to remind him. I was like,
were you able to drink alcohol?
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I'm not right now, but after surgery, I will be
able to.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
But when you were, when you were in dialysis and stuff,
I mean no, right or could you.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
Oh yeah no, like right now again dialysis like no way?
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah. Yeah, So this is nice too, like you can
get wasted again.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 4 (29:23):
That's that's like the funny thing because Megan said, like
one of the first questions she asked the surgeons or
the doctors at Christ like during her meeting, was I
drink alcohol like after this, like because we're celebrating, after.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
This is over, Like we are, of course.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Celebrating, like va, I'm the first plane to Hawaii. Let's go.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:51):
It's like once you get the green light, all systems
go like shot shots at tequila. Let me just get
fucking hammered.
Speaker 6 (30:01):
Yeah exact, let's see how good?
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Of course, No, but it is really awesome. I mean,
forget about how incredible the story is, and you know,
the fact that you are even doing this, Megan is amazing.
But even for you just just having this sort of
new life, you know what I mean, it's almost it's
(30:28):
like you're a child again in the sense of holy shit,
I can do anything that I want to do. I'll
be pain free, I can go to Hawaii. I mean
it's must be so exciting. I mean, well, yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Especially because right now, like.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Life is just so wild, the twist and turns that
it throws you, like I mean, I like I said,
never did I think I'd be talking to you last year,
you know, laying on like what I thought my deathbed,
Like it's crazy.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
And to be able to just look at life differently.
And I've had a huge lifestyle.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
Change because I don't, like, if you know anything about
kidney disease, like being on dialysis, the diet is so strict.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
It's a renal diet I can't have.
Speaker 4 (31:19):
So it has to be low sodium or no sodium,
which you know it's in literally.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Every everything, yeah, everything.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
And then it's no potassium and no phosphorus, so like
no bananas, no oranges, no deli meats, no tomatoes, Like
it's basically like just it's like plain chicken and broccoli
and like eggs and that's it. Like no cheese, no dairy,
no you know, like no fun and then no and
(31:52):
no no alcohol, and then two with since I don't
since I retain all my fluid, you have to drink
like only a certain amount every day, so I can't
have more than twenty four ounces of any sort of
liquid all day. Oh so like my freaking coffee in
(32:13):
the morning is like this much, and then I just
like eat ice a lot because it's yeah, like it sucks.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
So can you smoke weed?
Speaker 3 (32:27):
No, but I thought about it.
Speaker 4 (32:30):
It became very wow wow.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
Became a little ohio. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Well, I mean I'm excited. Yeah, like you.
Speaker 4 (32:43):
Said, it's like being a kid again, and it's like
to this new lifestyle change is kind of what I
want to include, you know, going forward, because it's just
a healthy way of life.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
I walk like seven to ten miles a day.
Speaker 4 (32:59):
I do an hour pilates a day, like even on
dialysis days, and I don't have well, Like what the
fuck else am I gonna do? I can't work, so
I'm like, might as well be in the best shape
I can be so I can recover well, and God
forbid it, I have to go through this again, you know,
because sometimes kidneys.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Don't last your entire life.
Speaker 4 (33:21):
Like I want to be able to be healthy enough
to get a transplant again if I have to.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Hopefully I never have to.
Speaker 4 (33:28):
But that's the other thing is it's the testing is
so rigorous. Yeah, to be a recipient, they test you
oliver from head to toe, like you got to go
to the dentist and make sure you have no infections
in your mouth. You gotta do a mammogram, papsiere altrasounds
like literally if there's a list they give you at
(33:49):
your meeting pre transplant, and you have to go through
all this testing.
Speaker 3 (33:53):
There's about fifteen different.
Speaker 4 (33:55):
Tests, those included, and then they decide if you're healthy
enough to be on the list. Wow, and then they
put you on the transplant list. And there's one hundred
and twenty five thousand people waiting on the transplant list
and only about twenty five thousand like organs like living donors,
(34:17):
so the so the rest will get to sea stoners,
and you really don't want to see stoner because there's
limited testing. Sometimes you have to do dialysis after transplant
to kind of like kick start at the kidney because
it's been on ice for who knows, and they just
don't last as long as the living donor does. So
(34:40):
that was my mission and why I was so like
putting shit on Instagram all the time because I was like,
I've got to find a live donor. I'm young, like,
like I said, I don't want to go through this again.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah yeah, yeah, so you're on the list. If you're
on the list, you're just waiting for somebody. But if
you find someone, then you there's no list, like obviously. Yeah.
Megan's like, oh boom, let's go.
Speaker 3 (35:04):
Yeah yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
So some people are on the list for one to
five years.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
It just depends when their match dies, you know.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
So that's why we two are doing this, and we're
we want to interview with as many people as we
can because we just want to be the face and
spread the word about organ donation and how important it
is and even blood donation.
Speaker 3 (35:29):
Megan is a fucking saint. She texted me the other
day and she's like, hey, I'm.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
Giving blood and I'm like, well, the only reason I
even thought to is because you inspired me to.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
So good news, I'm giving my other kidney. Like you can't,
you can't do that. You would, that's just.
Speaker 4 (35:57):
She would.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
This is so great. Well it's an inspiring story and
you know, you getting your life back is even exciting
for me. You know, not that I wish I was
in your position, but at the same time, I'm like, ooh,
you get to experience all of these things almost for
the first time again, Like that's awesome. And you know,
of course everything happens for reasons, and you know this
(36:23):
is a blessing. But the silver lining and all of
it now that you do have, Megan, is that you
have learned to you know, eat correctly, you walk, you know,
you now know what it's like like you are in
a healthy place. You know what I'm saying, Like you
have kickstarted that kind of lifestyle for yourself, which is awesome. Yeah,
(36:46):
you know, And of course, Megan, I mean, jeez, amazing.
You guys are awesome. You're an inspiration and I hope
people can listen to this and not be afraid, but
not be afraid because I'm afraid. And you know, Megan's like, no,
fuck that, there's no fear, like I have to I
can get rid of one and save someone's life. I mean, yeah,
(37:09):
it's pretty remarkable.
Speaker 4 (37:12):
Yeah, it's an amazing realizing only do need one kidney
to live, and like there are people that are born
with just one kidney and it's if they so when
they take Megan's kidney, her other kidney will like kick
into gear and do more work for the lack of.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
You know, the other one.
Speaker 4 (37:31):
The human body is pretty incredible, yeah, what it can do.
Speaker 7 (37:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
And there aren't major restrictions afterwards either, which like just
that I can still drink after which is great. And
it's just kind of basic like don't eat like shit, yeah,
don't eat a lot of sodium, like pretty much stuff
that I try to do anyway, So it's not a
huge lifestyle shift for the donor.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Thank you guys so much for telling your story and
coming on. I really appreciate it. This was awesome, you know,
both an inspiration and you know, hopefully people give more kidneys.
Speaker 7 (38:12):
Yeah or blooder or blood or anything. Yeah, all right, good,
I appreciate you guys. Good luck in November. I'm sure
it's going to be amazing. I'm sure it's all going
to take and be beautiful and then within nine months you're.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
Going to be partying and having the part.
Speaker 3 (38:29):
Well, we'll come back to California.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
Yeah, let me know. If you're out here, I'll come
have a few cocktails. All right, guys, see you later
all right, thanks Oliver, all right, thank you. Ye wow,
cool aspiring, very nice. Man. I'd give a kidney, I mean,
(38:53):
would I Yeah, I'd give a kidney to my family member.
I'd give a kidney do like a best friend probably,
you know, if John or Jesse or Alex or Brian
or Mark, you know, needed a kidney and I was
a match saying fuck it, take my goddamn kidney. Take
my kidney. But you know what you're gonna pay for it,
(39:14):
you know, now you owe me everything. Like That's how
I would do it. I'd be like, Mark, look, you
can have my kidney, but it's going to cost you,
you know, just you need to weigh this out. You
can have my kidney, but now, oh man, I can.
(39:35):
You've got to do everything that I want, you know.
It's kind of a nice, kind of a nice thing. Anyway,
those girls were amazing, really inspiring, and I wish them
the best of luck in November and hopefully I get
an update. All Right, I'm out, piece
Hosts And Creators
Oliver Hudson
Kate Hudson
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