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From one to another: Lewisville couple bands together, promotes organ donation
By Chris Roark, Staff Writer
Clay and Stacie McClinton admit that giving gifts to each other hasn’t been a big part of their seven-year marriage.
But Stacie’s gift to Clay on Feb. 24 of 2004 was an exception. And he didn’t even have to ask her for it.
The Lewisville couple continues to celebrate an improved life together thanks to Stacie’s donation of her kidney to her husband. It was an easy decision for Stacie, though Clay never once encouraged her to do it.
But considering what was at stake, as well as how small the odds were that Clay’s spouse would be such a good match for the donation, there was no doubt what Stacie would do.
“The alternative was that I’d be a widow because he was declining,” Stacie said. “So it was a no-brainer. I’d do it again if I had another one to give.”
The couple met in 1998 while attending Covenant Church in Carrollton, where they were both active. After two years of friendship, they became a couple and then married in 2000. But before getting married, Clay learned of his kidney disease, which at the time was not progressive. After getting married, though, the condition worsened. Following the 2002 birth of the couple’s daughter, Ciarra, Clay went on dialysis, which he stayed on for 18 months.
“It was tough on my physically,” Clay said. “It depleted my strength, and it felt like I had the flu.”
Soon, the couple began looking into kidney transplant options, and working at Trinity gave Stacie some accessible information on the process. There, she learned of a nurse who donated a kidney to her brother. And that intensified Stacie’s research on the subject.
“That’s where I learned that a woman can donate a kidney and still have children,” said Stacie, whose concern was that she wouldn’t be able to have another child.
All of the research uncovered a lot of information on the process that the McClinton’s were unaware of. They believe many others might not be aware of the information either. So while enjoying their new life together, they want to involve education as part of the process.
That includes debunking the idea that transplants must come between people of the same race.
“Misconceptions about donors needing to be of the same race have limited donations because people have historically thought race mattered,” Clay said. “But it does not.”
In August of 2006, there was a three-way transplant involving a kidney donation between a Hispanic woman, an African American man and a Caucasian man.
The couple also wants to persuade people to discuss organ donation with friends and family in hopes of finding a live donor, which is the best option for both the patients and the organ itself.
When a transplant is done involving a deceased person, the organ is packed with ice and a solution and often has to travel for hours to a hospital. This can cause the organ to lose its function. But with a live donor, both patients are scheduled to be in the hospital at the same time, so the organ is only outside of the body for a short time.
In addition, the process has become less invasive over the years. Laparoscopic surgery has made the procedure smoother and the recovery time shorter. Stacie was only in the hospital for two days, and Clay was out in less than a week.
A transplant involving a live donor is most ideal for long-term success. And while race is not a factor, tissue type and blood type are.
There are six physical traits between the donor and the recipient that are looked at before a transplant, as well as blood type. The closer the match between the two, the better the long term success rate of the transplant will be.
Clay and Stacie matched in four of six traits and also shared the same blood type of O Positive. Those with O Positive blood can only receive a transplant from someone with the same type, which makes finding a match more difficult. While Stacie wouldn’t have been Clay’s only donor option, the couple said they feel blessed that the best option ended up being Clay’s spouse.
“There would have been over five years of a wait if I didn’t find a family member,” Clay said. “She was my best candidate, even more so than someone in my own family because of the health of those in my family. Our big excitement is that when we became friends, we had no clue that I’d be sick. So this was confirmation that us being together was brought together by God.”
Especially considering what Clay would be going through right now without her. He is about to graduate from North Texas with a degree in emergency planning and administration, something he wouldn’t have been able to do in his previous condition.
“I was discouraged when I was on dialysis,” Clay said. “But when I went back to school, the transplant made me re-evaluate my life. And I decided I wanted to leave a legacy. That’s what the last few years have been like. We’re rediscovering our dreams, and that’s a result of the donation.”
There haven’t been many limitations because of the surgery. Clay said he is able to do just about everything he used to do, and Stacie’s recent blood test revealed that she has fully recovered as well.
Clay’s dream is to start his own business that will hopefully involve music, one of his passions. Stacie wants to start her own counseling service. And they both want to have another child.
Until then and even afterward, the couple plans to share their experience with others to promote the education of organ donation in hopes of increasing the number of live donations.
“We encourage people to talk to friends and their church families,” Stacie said. “The donation doesn’t have to come from a family member.”
Clay added, “A lot of people fear the medical part of it. But [science] has come so far, that it’s not as dramatic as it had been in the past.”
According to the Dallas Transplant Alliance, there are approximately 95,000 people in the United States awaiting organ donations, and 71,000 of those are awaiting kidneys. In Texas, more than 5,300 people are awaiting a donated kidney.
While the number of live donors has increased over the years, Pam Silvestri, public affairs director of the Southwest Transplant Alliance, said the number of donated organs is still low.
“In order to have a donated organ from a deceased person, that person has to have died on a ventilator,” Silvestri said. “Only 20,000 people a year die in that way, and usually about one-fourth of those organs can’t be donated because of other health issues. So that only leaves 15,000 that are medically suitable.”
Clay didn’t have to look too far for his.
“She doesn’t see it as a sacrifice, but I do,” Clay said. “It definitely gave me a greater appreciation for her. You know how God took a rib from the man to make the woman? Well for us, He took the kidney from the woman and gave it to the man.”
BOX THIS
To register to be an organ donor, visit www.organ.org and click on the Texas Donor Registry link.
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