Oh, Baby! Kidney Recipient Delights in Motherhood

On August 31, 1980, Marcia Burke woke up in the intensive care unit at University Hospitals in Cleveland and smiled. She had undergone a kidney transplant after two decades of illness. "When I opened my eyes, I knew something was different. I was going to be healthy now," says Marcia. "I went home after the transplant and did things I only dreamt about, like going to a restaurant and eating a normal meal. Simple things."

Many of life's simple pleasures had been denied to Marcia since she was a sixth grader living in rural Ohio. "I would come home from school and my ankles would swell," recalls Marcia. "A month or two later, I'd wake up and my eyes would be puffy." Her doctor diagnosed a kidney problem, and the young girl was placed on complete bed rest for a year.

For the next six years, Marcia's life barely resembled that of a typical teenager. She was diagnosed with childhood nephrosis, a degenerative kidney disease. As her condition deteriorated, Marcia's parents were told that she would probably die. They placed her on high doses of steroids to slow the disease and watched as Marcia defied medical predictions.

The determined young woman graduated from high school in 1967, attended college and got married in 1971. All along her symptoms persisted. "Every day was getting tougher to get through," says Marcia, who was tired, swollen and anemic. "Then I woke up one morning in 1973 and couldn't see. The toxins had built up so much that I went blind. I was hysterical." She was placed on emergency dialysis. It was the start of a three-day-a-week dialysis regime that Marcia would withstand for seven years.

She was placed on the organ waiting list in January 1980. In August, Marcia received a kidney from a deceased donor. Four years later, Marcia gave birth to a healthy daughter, Bridget. Five years after that, she had a son, Trevor.

Today, Marcia volunteers by sharing her story with middle and high school students, educating them about organ and tissue donation.

Marcia's own gratitude is tremendous. "Because of the transplant, I was able to have my daughter and son," she says. "When they have children, it will all be because of a 16-year-old boy whose family considered organ donation. When my grandchildren have children, it will be because of my donor. The gift will never end. It will go from generation to generation."

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.