Red Cross official in Everett waits, hoping for kidney transplant

Published 7:27 pm Sunday, April 12, 2009

When Annette Salsgiver, 32, died in a car accident in 1997, her driver’s license indicated she was willing to donate her organs.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get to the hospital in time to share.

Years later, not only does her mother, Glenna Forrest, mourn for her only child, she grieves the opportunity her girl lost to donate the gift of life.

April is National Donate Life Month, aimed at raising awareness about donating organs, eyes and tissue.

The issue of donation is very close to Forrest’s heart. She learned more than a year ago that her kidneys are failing.

Used to helping others, the director of operations for the Snohomish County Chapter of the American Red Cross now is asking others to make a life-saving donation.

Forrest seeks a kidney from a living donor or a cadaver. She can live a good life with one kidney, she said.

After her diagnosis, Forrest studied her medical situation and applied for a transplant. Arm surgery in July prepared her to be hooked to a dialysis machine. There are many different ways to cleanse the blood. She does it around the clock, using a special procedure.

Meanwhile, she waits for a transplant.

“There is no bank for kidneys,” Forrest said. “When a cadaver kidney is available, it goes to the closest match.”

The kidney must be still living when it is transplanted, she said. Kidneys from a deceased person are not viable if they have not been kept on life support, so most cadaver kidneys come from patients who die while in the hospital.

Someone who dies at the scene of an accident or from a sudden cause can’t usually be put on life support soon enough to save the organs.

“Without the wonderful people who are willing to give an organ, especially those who give to complete strangers, most of the people who have transplants would not have a chance to survive,” she said.

Forrest moved to Everett from Seattle in 1970. She started a day care, then moved in 1991 to Missouri, where her husband accepted a two-year job.

“In 1993, five states in the Midwest were hit by massive flooding,” Forrest said. “We were at the heart of it. Our house was high and dry, but neighbors were under 20 feet of water.”

While out driving, she heard a plea for volunteers. The Red Cross office was right at the next freeway exit.

“I don’t remember where I was going, but I never got there. I walked into the Red Cross and was put to work immediately. I was amazed to learn that everyone there (all 200 of them) were volunteers from all over the country. No, the world. We had volunteers in my department from Canada and France.”

She was hooked on the work and visited the Everett office when she returned to this area. Her need to take care of children, she said, turned into a need to help people. She has traveled the country in that pursuit and accepted a full-time job after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Working full time takes most of her energy.

“For the past year, my life has been consumed by special diets, medication changes, trainings, medical tests, surgeries and trips to the Home Center at the Puget Sound Kidney Center in Mountlake Terrace,” Forrest said. “I’m still continuing to work full time, but it is harder than it was just a year ago. Partly because I’m more tired all the time, and partly because of trying to juggle medical issues around my job.”

Transplant centers will help patients find suitable matches, said Harold Kelly, president and CEO of Puget Sound Kidney Centers.

“Finding ‘perfect’ and compatible kidneys is difficult, comprehensive, time-consuming and complicated,” Kelly said. “Taking the necessary time to find a suitable match is certainly the goal of every transplant center.”

Forrest said folks with her blood type typically wait two to four years to receive a cadaver kidney. She hopes to find a living donor — soon.

For more information about donating, get advice from your doctor.

And listen to your heart.

For more information about donations, visit www.­donatelifetoday.com or call the University of Washington living donor program at 206-598-3627.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.