WASHINGTON, Ill. – A mother from Washington is among almost 4,000 people in Illinois waiting to receive a kidney transplant.
April is National Donate Life Month, a time in which Amy Ahten and all the others on the waiting list think about how a transplant could change their lives.
Ahten was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) when she was in high school. It’s a hereditary disease passed down from Ahten’s mother.
Ahten tells 25 News while she does not feel sick, she hopes to find a match while her daughters are still young and she’s healthy enough to bounce back.
“The D-word is what I call it. I’m not on dialysis yet. I’m right there on that level, like right where I could start or could not start, so finding a donor would be very helpful right now,” said Ahten.
According to OSF’s Kidney Transplant Medical Director, PKD is one of the most common genetic diseases in the world. Dr. Christopher Johnson said it occurs when cysts gradually develop on the kidneys, causing the organs to expand.
Johnson said cyst growth happens slowly enough that most people don’t experience trouble, but if they get too big, they push up against the stomach, making it hard to eat.
Ahten’s kidneys weigh about 20 pounds each when they should weigh one pound. She said she’s been fortunate enough to live a manageable life thus far, but in 2022, her blood work showed that it was time to join the transplant list.
Ahten said she feels like she hasn’t been able to live a free life since joining the transplant list. Her family likes to travel and spend weekends camping, but that comes at the cost of being skipped over if a kidney becomes available while she’s out of town.
Since Ahten joined the transplant list, she’s had some donors step up to see if they match her O-positive blood type but has had no luck.
Ahten prefers a living donor over a deceased donor because of the success rate.
The doctor said the kidney is the most common organ to transplant, but the average wait time in Illinois is five to seven years because of the long list.
More information about organ donations can be found on OSF’s website.
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