Couple Celebrating Kidney Transplant Anniversary
Kidney Transplant
DELAWARE- Imagine seeing the person you love suffer unimaginable amounts of pain. Would you do anything to help them? That wasn’t a question for Dialysis Technician Kristy Ann-Ferracci, who put her husband’s needs before her own.
According to the American Kidney Fund and the National Kidney Foundation, Kidney disease affects one in seven adults. The Ferracci’s found love in an unlikely situation. After finding out his kidney was failing, Michael began dialysis treatment at the center where his soon-to-be wife Kristy-Ann was working at.
“Transplant is not a cure, it’s another form of treatment. and a lot of people don’t understand that” says Kristy-Ann. “Michael started dialysis in 2004 at the clinic that I worked at in Milford. He would bring his CDs in that I would flip through to kill time while he was on dialysis.”
Michael describes dialysis treatment as a full-time job. He tells WMDT he has been through many challenges before.
“I went to a seminar with the University of Maryland for transplanting, and they made me kind of feel like a second-class citizen, that I would need all this money right up front to get a kidney transplant,” Michael said.
Kristy Ann, however, had the idea to see if she could donate one of her kidneys to her husband. “I found out at the end of January that I was a match. And I was like, ‘Oh no.’ Now what? This is like, reality,” she said.
In 2008, the couple underwent the transplant surgery. With Michael’s newly functioning kidney, they found new time to enjoy everything life has to offer and give support to other families who share the same story.
“When she told me she wanted to do that,” Michaels says through tears, “I’m like, ‘I can’t ask her to do that.’ But she said she wanted to do it, so she went at got tested, and the day she told me, I walked out of the clinic, and just went wow.”
When asked how this experience has brought them closer, and what they mean to each other, the couple became even more emotional.
Support, Caregiver, Wife, Best Friend. Like, on this journey that, who knows what it is,” Kristy Ann said. “Today it’s up tomorrow it may be down, but somehow, we come through.”
Michael is currently on insulin for diabetes, which he contracted after the transplant. He now spends his time as a social worker encouraging other families to seek support and stay strong.
“While were here we’re going to try to do what we can advocating for kidneys,” Michael said.
Both Kristy and Michael say they have to pay close attention to their heath since the surgery. They’re taking steps like watching their protein, sodium, and alcohol intake.
Kristy has this word of advice for the community: get educated on kidney disease. “Talk to your family, talk to your primary cares, get your numbers checked, about your kidney function because, it is a silent killer,” she said.
This year marks 17 years since Michael and Kristy-Ann have had their surgery and they are excited for the next 17 years to come.
