At 77, Mitzi Neyens had become an expert in waiting. For most of her 53-year marriage to her husband Bill, her kidney disease was manageable, until suddenly, it wasn’t.
“It wasn’t that serious then but gradually over time it became more and more serious,” Bill Neyens said. “About seven or eight years ago we went to Europe, went to the Hills of Italy. So she was doing really fine up until about a year ago. Then it started to go downhill.”
Mitzi was in otherwise good health, but because of her age, she wasn’t considered for the deceased donor list to get a new kidney. Her only option was to find a living donor.
So the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison enrolled her in the National Kidney Registry’s paired exchange program, which was her only chance for a match.