Double Organ Recipient Shares Message Through Puppets

Several times each school year, Catherine Grenig performs in a puppet show aimed at teaching children about organ and tissue donation. She plays the role of a young boy whose friend receives a donor heart. Although Cathy is no longer a child, getting into character isn't a far stretch for her: She received a kidney and pancreas transplant in 1992.

Cathy was diagnosed with diabetes at age 10. For 25 years she lived with the disease that prevented her pancreas from making enough insulin, which caused her glucose levels to rise. Eventually, her diabetes led to kidney failure.

"Two weeks before I was to get married in 1985, I landed in the hospital - probably because of stress," recalls Cathy. "The doctors told me my creatinine was starting to creep up." Creatinine is a chemical waste filtered out of the body by the kidneys. Rising levels indicate the kidneys aren't functioning adequately.

By 1989, her kidneys had deteriorated enough to be placed on the organ transplant waiting list. Family and close friends were tested to be living donors, but no one matched Cathy's requirements. Then, in the early 1990s, physicians suggested she also consider a pancreas transplant to relieve her of diabetes.

On June 29, she received her pancreas and kidney and the 35-year-old began her road to recovery.

Fifteen years later, Cathy says, "Life is wonderful! I'm a normal person. I don't even think about the transplant half the time." But that doesn't mean she's not grateful to the donor family. "I have a 10-year-old nephew and 14-year-old niece that I probably never would've seen without the transplant," she says. "How do you thank somebody for giving you your life back?"

You have the power to save lives by becoming a registered organ and tissue donor right now or by saying "yes" when renewing your driver license or state ID at the BMV.