“I’m a very private person but this is something where I need help,” McNair pleaded last summer—putting aside her pride in search of someone willing to save her life as a living transplant donor.
Since then, Bonnie has been celebrating a new chapter with a new kidney, thanks to Lauren Hackert, who just so happens to be Bonnie’s coworker at the library.
Hackert said, she already had a donor mindset, even before learning about Bonnie’s needs.
“My dad had cancer in 2020 and I had signed up to be a bone marrow donor,” Hackert said. “He didn’t end up needing that, thankfully, but I stayed on the registry in case somebody else needed it. Because, if you have something that someone else can use, you don’t need to hang on to it just in case.
Hackert thought the least she could do was try. So, she underwent testing.
“I thought at every different phase I’d probably get kicked out for some reason,” Hackert recalled. “So, I tried not to get too excited until we were at the very end. There are just so many different levels to testing so you could be a match in one way and then get excluded in another. So, I really kept it under wraps until the very end.”
Hackert managed to keep her gift a secret but continued the conversation with McNair through a mutual friend at work.
“I didn’t want her to think that no one was trying, I wanted her to know that it was still moving forward because it was a long process,” Hackert said.
The women recalled the day Hackert broke the news to McNair.
“The day they finally let us schedule our surgery, I went up to her, she was working at the desk, and I said, ‘Hey Bonnie, would you like to have a kidney transplant,'” Lauren said.
“And I’m like, ‘Is it you,’” Bonnie asked.
Lauren said it was very exciting. Bonnie said it was like fireworks went off inside her and the rest of the day was a blur.
I think I hugged her,” Bonnie recalled. “I might have mugged her, I don’t know.”
Bonnie said the conversation happened at the beginning of March. “Around March 21, we both went to IU University Hospital in good old Indianapolis, we had operating room side by side,” Bonnie said.
It’s now been just over five months since the operations.
“I’m doing awesome,” McNair said. “It’s like it never really happened. I have three kidneys now, one working strong, and a lot of the things that led to me having to have a kidney transplant, are so much better.”
“I’m doing great,” Hackert said. I feel like nothing happened, really, besides the emotional benefits of having done this and everybody being so nice to me.”
With her family’s support, Hackert says she never questioned the decision.
“It wasn’t a hard decision, I don’t think,” Hackert said. “I wish it wasn’t so shocking. So many people were like ‘Wow, that’s crazy.’ I wish it wasn’t like that. I understand that it’s a big decision for people, but I wish it was normalized, like oh yeah, if you can do that, you should. I didn’t really ever wrestle with it, they take you through the stages so slowly and at your own pace, and they’re really looking out for you, So I never felt stressed about it or pressured.”
“Words cannot express my thankfulness and gratefulness to Lauren and her family for her donation,” Bonnie said. “It’s a very selfless gift.”
A gift that demonstrates the importance of community and the power of giving.
“She just did it out of the goodness of her heart, and it’s life-altering,” Bonnie said. “And so, when I look and I’m reading my book, to my grandson, you know, he’s giggling, I’m like, ‘yeah,’ I’m getting that and that’s because of Lauren.”
According to the Indiana Donor Network website , more than 1,000 Hoosiers await a lifesaving transplant. More than 100,000 Americans are on the list. In the U.S., another person is added to the transplant waiting list every eight minutes and 16 people die each day because a donated organ wasn’t available in time.
To become a living donor to help someone waiting on a lifesaving organ donation, you can register directly with the patient’s transplant facility. In McNair’s case, IU Health was her facility. According to its website, IU Health has been performing kidney transplants for over 50 years, transplanting more than 200 kidneys every year. They have a living kidney donation program for individuals who wish to donate a kidney to someone they know or to someone anonymously. Visit IU Health’s website to learn more or to start the questionnaire.
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