Nebraska Kidney Association

Featured Volunteer of the Month

Karen Blunt lives in North Platte, Nebraska.  This kidney and pancreas transplant recipient just recently hosted a Karaoke night to benefit the Nebraska Kidney Association.  Just a few months ago, she and her husband, Doug, appeared as Dorothy and the cowardly lion at the 2010 Patient and Family Celebration Day.  In a few months Karen will once again get busy for the NKA selling Big Red Raffle tickets.  Karen sells so many tickets she has the NKA’s top seller, Cory Frisch, of Creighton, looking over his shoulder!

 

Karen was diagnosed with diabetes on her 4^th birthday.  She suffered her whole life with a disease that the medical community didn’t know much about in her early days, leaving her family with little or no information about care and prevention.  “Don’t eat sugar” was the only advice she received. 

 

“I remember sneaking candy all the time!”  Karen admits.

 

She also remembers that her Mom was a great cook so it was hard to regulate her diet and keep away from foods that she should not have eaten.

 

Karen warns others, “I’m not perfect but I’m a good example of what may happen if you don’t take care of yourself!” 

 

Throughout her life, Karen’s diabetes sent her to the hospital in a coma.  The worst one lasted for six months. 

 

“My Mom came to my bed side every day.  I remember she would comb my long hair.  She would complain about how knotted up it was, especially in the back, but she was there everyday. “

 

Karen was the only diabetic in family for years, but was soon followed by her dad, younger brother, and a nephew.  In 1996, Karen went completely blind due to the diabetes. She has had several surgeries to try to correct the problem, but nothing worked.

 

In June, 1998 she began dialysis.  Prior to dialysis, she didn’t know what was wrong, but clearly recalls going to bed one night weighing 125 pounds and waking up the next morning unable to get out of bed because she had gained 75 pounds over night.  Her first few trips to a doctor didn’t result in answers, only more questions.  He prescribed a variety of pills, none of which worked and finally suggested she see a psychiatrist.  The counselor realized the problem wasn’t in Karen’s head and took her to a doctor who ran blood tests and discovered pneumonia, and that her kidneys were almost completely shut down.  She was convinced she would die from kidney disease and admits to being very depressed.

 

While in dialysis, Karen met lots of people with the same condition, who were living normal lives.  This realization gave her hope.  Things started going better emotionally, but dialysis made her sick with severe nausea and migraines.  She envied the people who could complete treatment and then go straight to work.  She was placed on the transplant list and received a call fairly quickly.  However, she was unable to arrange the travel for the first two kidneys available for her. 

 

“The third one,” Karen says, “was a charm!  That was April 24, 2003, then almost a year later on July 19, 2004 I got my pancreas.”

 

Karen became acquainted with the NKA while receiving dialysis.  The social worker told her about an organization in Omaha that could educate her and her family and help with drugs and dialysis.  She found the NKA to be very helpful and upbeat, so she became an advocate, telling others about it. 

 

Karen explains why she has worked so hard to support the NKA:  “I’m not a rich woman and can’t give money, but I still want to help others.  I knew I needed to get out of my comfort zone and try to do some volunteer work and educate people.   I never want anyone to say, after I die, that I took help but never helped.  I want to do as much as I can for as long as I can.  I want to reach hundreds of people, but if I reach just one person, I feel like I’ve done something.”

 

Thanks Karen for all your help and support!