![]() ![]() “Oh, it made us feel great,” Debbie says. A short call from the Havre native meant much to the Great Falls folks. ![]() Kuhr graduated from Carroll College and the University of Washington Medical School. That you’ll be in the best of hands.’"ĭr. “He called us and reassured us, that this was not routine, but that they did it quite a bit and said ‘You’ll be just fine. “The surgeon for the entire transplant department at Virginia Mason is from Havre, Montana,” Debbie says. Her faith was restored thanks to a Hi-Line hero. “I was certainly terrified going into it,” Debbie says. “So many questions of how you’re going to feel and how your body is going to work, and the emotional things of having my own kids and wondering if I was making the right decision, but also knowing it would help my mom.”ĭebbie wondered if she’d ever return to her active lifestyle. IT WAS A FRIGHTENING time for the entire Kuntz family. She was in this really perfect window, where she was well enough to receive a kidney but also sick enough to be placed on the transplant list.” Or they’re too sick to complete the process. “Because some people that are placed on the ‘cadaver’ list, looking for a nonliving donor, end up dying well before they get one. “The easy part of it was knowing it would save her life,” Lara says. “I would donate to someone, and someone else would donate to my mom,” Lara says, explaining the program. “The people on the transplant floor were impressed by all that love,” Debbie says. “That family support was just invaluable. Many times all five of her were in the hospital room, waiting for the doctors to make their rounds. “My youngest daughter, Trina, lives out there so she was with me constantly. “So the oldest came here to watch Lara’s kids, then swapped with her husband and she came to Seattle (for Debbie’s surgery),” Debbie says. When Lara went through the surgery, Kira, who lives in Boise, came to Great Falls to care for Lara’s young children. “To have the family support is so great.” The ordeal has turned out to be one of the most wonderful things in Debbie’s life. 8 at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. THREE MONTHS AGO, Lara had the surgery to donate her kidney - and Debbie, 69, underwent surgery for a transplant. “Please consider sharing this information.”Īccording to the National Kidney Foundation, 13 patients die each day waiting for transplants. The innovative “matched-pair” program allows donors to give a kidney and save their family members’ lives even if they aren’t a direct match, says Kira. “But if you have to wait …”Īccording to a recent Wall Street Journal story that cited statistics provided by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, some 95,000 people are on the waiting list for kidney transplants last year there were nearly 21,000 of the procedures. “It puts you a little higher on the list, because you’re exchanging,” Debbie says. That’s when the Kuntzes learned of the “matched pair” kidney exchange program, where a family member donates to an unknown person in need in return for a perfect match. So Lara and Trina were tested, as were their husbands. ![]() But Kira also had a small kidney stone and was not eligible to be a donor. ![]() Kira has the same blood type as her mother. Her sisters include Lara, 39, and Trina, 37. THE KUNTZ FAMILY includes three daughters, who all thrived in school and sports at Great Falls High. It was then determined Debbie needed a kidney transplant. The kidney stone was removed via robotic surgery at Benefis in Great Falls. It had damaged one of her kidneys to the point where it wasn’t functioning.īecause the other had been compromised by the Crohn’s Disease, her kidney function was down to 18 percent. About two years ago, she had a golf ball-sized kidney stone removed. I wasn’t really in any pain, but I was exhausted a lot.”ĭebbie has dealt with Crohn’s Disease, a chronic inflammation of the bowels, for some time. “I didn’t realize what was happening at the time. They’d retired from the family business, Village Shoes, and were planning to enjoy their golden years. “Like I always say, having even one more day with her is worth it.”ĭEBBIE AND BOB Kuntz of Great Falls celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last fall. But it didn’t take long for her to agree with the exchange. Lara would give her kidney to a total stranger, in return for her mother receiving one from a similarly unknown person. Until she learned her mother, Debbie Kuntz, was in dire need of a transplant.īut this would not be a conventional gift. The thought of donating one of her kidneys? It never entered Lara’s mind. Four or five miles a day, six days a week. She sells real estate, manages dozens of apartments and owns a business with her husband, Todd. Lara Clark is a healthy, energetic mother of three in Great Falls. ![]()
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