Kidney exchange

Two Crestonians made Iowa history this week.

Tuesday morning Barb Coenen of Creston laid on a surgical table for three hours at Iowa Methodist Hospital. Surgeons cut her open, removed her kidney and shipped it to a complete stranger in New Jersey.

Why you ask?

Coenen, 51, co-owner of Maple Street Memories in Creston, made that sacrifice so someone in New Jersey would send a healthy kidney to Minnesota and then another person would send one from Minnesota to Iowa — where it could be implanted in Coenen’s friend and fellow Crestonian Allison Danilovich by Tuesday evening.

The disease

Danilovich is well known in Creston. Thursday marked her 25th anniversary working in the Union County Clerk of Court’s office. In December 2011, Danilovich became Union County Clerk of Court.

But, not everyone knows for the past 14 years she’s been living with polycystic kidney disease — an inherited disease that has damaged her kidneys to the point where they no longer functioned.

“I’ve never openly told people about the disease because I don’t want people to pity me or feel sorry for me,” Danilovich said.

Polycystic kidney disease had damaged Danilovich’s kidney’s to the point where they no longer function. So, for the past decade Danilovich has had to hook her self up to a dialysis machine for nine hours each day.

“It is a hassle,” Danilovich said about dialysis. “There were times in the summer when it’s nice and you want to be outside doing things, but can’t, or when you want to go to your granddaughter’s program in Greenfield, but can’t because you have to be home by 8 p.m. to do dialysis.”

Arrival of kidney

Coenen’s kidney was removed at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Her kidney was immediately shipped by commercial aircraft to New Jersey. Her kidney set the carousel in motion and a kidney from Minnesota arrived for Danilovich at Iowa Methodist Hospital about 2:30 p.m.

The 54-year-old Danilovich was prepped for surgery at 2:45 p.m. and her new kidney was transplanted by Dr. Qasim Chaudhry by 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. By Thursday, the surgeon was confident her organ was working properly.

“There are no words for what Barb did for me,” Danilovich said. “Thank you isn’t enough. She’s God’s miracle. She a special person, and I hope she inspires people who are considering being a donor of any kind to check it out because there are so many people out there like me.”

Danilovich said, because of Coenen, her quality of life will immediately be better. If all goes as planned, she will longer have to spend nine hours hooked to a dialysis machine. She already has a few ideas on how to celebrate, and they all include sweet treats.

“I’d like to have some ice cream,” Danilovich said. “I couldn’t have ice cream before. I was on strict diet. I’d like to have chocolate cake, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich sounds good. A candy bar sounds good, too. I haven’t had one of those since 2005.”

Coenen and Danilovich are both doing well and are expected to be released from Iowa Methodist and return home to Creston sometime today.

Doctors said Danilovich and Coenen made Iowa history as they were part of the first ever three-state kidney transplant successfully completed in the state of Iowa.

“I’m just so blessed,” Danilovich said. “I’ve had a pastor friend with me from day one. There are so many people praying for Barb and I, and this experience shows that all things are possible through God. He put everyone in place for this to work. I am just so blessed.”

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Danilovich's kidney transplant was long awaited

It's been a bumpy road for Allison Danilovich to get this kidney transplant.

Coenen and Danilovich became friends because her sister Pat used to work with Danilovich at the Union County Clerk of Court's office.

Over the past five years, the friendship between Danilovich and Coenen continued to build with the good-hearted Coenen telling her she'd donate her kidney to her if they were a match.

"When I saw what she had to go through every day — including some things we all take for granted — you want to help. My health was good enough, and I had the support of my family, so I said let's do this," Coenen explained during an interview Thursday from her hospital bed at Iowa Methodist.

First, the two explored whether Coenen's kidney would be a match for Danilovich. They found out it wasn't. Danilovich then was placed on a deceased donor list. She received a cadaver kidney in 2010, but the kidney failed after four months.

So, it was back to the drawing board.

Later, Coenen and Danilovich got on a national paired kidney donor program through the help of Nicole Patterson, a nurse who is Iowa Methodist’s transplant coordinator. They got word in July a match was found for Davilovich.

"I was in Creston Walmart when they called," Danilovich said, "so it was hard to hear with all the speaker and people noises. They told me they found a match and the surgery was scheduled for Aug. 6 at Iowa Methodist. I was excited, but not too excited, because I knew everything had to click, nothing could go wrong and nobody could back out."

Luckily, everything worked out and Danilovich received a fully-functioning, healthy kidney Tuesday evening at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.