By Kyle LoJacono
Many high school students dread getting up and going to class, but for Brittany Hutchinson the day she will be one of her sweetest.
She has been homeschooled since she received a kidney transplant Aug. 25. Before that, the 17-year-old was attending Wiregrass Ranch High.
“My doctor said I should be able to go back in January, but I’ll need to wait until the end of flu season,” said Brittany, a senior. “I’m taking immune (system) suppressors so my body doesn’t reject the kidney and I have to wear a surgical mask most of the time so I don’t get sick.
“It’s been hard,” Brittany said of the recovery. “I haven’t been able to go to school or hang out with my friends. Of course I’m glad to have this kidney. I’m living life again.”
Brittany had suffered from extremely high blood pressure since age 8 and was on medications to treat it, but her health started declining while on a trip to Washington D.C. in August 2009. She became very tired, had chest pains and was retaining water while losing her appetite.
She had several tests, the last being on her electrolyte levels. Her doctor told her she had the readings of a dead person and had only 11 percent kidney function.
Brittany had end-stage renal failure and had to use a dialysis machine each night for eight to nine hours. Four bags of a sugar-water solution would be pumped through a tube into her and back out to clean her body from the waste her kidneys left behind.
“It was so unexpected because as far as we know we don’t have any history of something like this,” said Debbie Hutchinson, Brittany’s mother.
“It was very frustrating to see your child in such rough shape,” said Tony Hutchinson, Brittany’s father. “A teenager who couldn’t go out with her friends because she has to get home in time to go on dialysis.”
The family was very impulsive before Brittany’s diagnosis. They would pack up and go on trips with little planning just because they wanted to, but having to travel with the machine and all of Brittany’s supplies made things more difficult.
“We bought our SUV just so we had the space to take everything,” Tony said. “Once you have 10 boxes of the big bags you don’t have much room for anything else.”
Brittany had to use the machine for about a year. The call she had been praying for finally came at 12:20 a.m. Aug. 25. Doctors at Tampa General Hospital had a compatible kidney.
“It was a school night,” Brittany said. “At first I thought it was a dream. I remember the night before I told my mom I think something amazing is going to happen. When it happened, I had to pinch myself. We all thought we were dreaming and my dad thought it was a prank call because we got it so late. I had to finish my treatment that night before we went to the hospital.”
Brittany had been praying to receive a transplant before going to college. It would have been hard for her to be on dialysis while at school.
“The transplant couldn’t have come at a better time,” Brittany said. “Really, it was perfect.”
Brittany still has to take several medications and limit the amount of salt she eats and to stay healthy. She has been very disciplined with following her plan and has seen improvement in her health.
“It’s so much better now,” said Mark Hutchinson, Brittany’s 13-year-old brother. “Now we can stay up late and watch movies again. Before she’d have to go to bed and be on the machine.”
She was only on the waiting list for a kidney for two months, a very short time according to Betsy Edwards of LifeLink. The nonprofit organization is designated by the federal government to handle the logistics of and educate the public about organ donations in the Tampa Bay area.
“Right now there are 109,000 people on the national waiting list for an organ and 70 percent of those are waiting for a kidney,” Edwards said. “In some cases it can take three to five years for someone to get an organ that is a match for them. It really is amazing to get one after two months.”
Brittany has become a youth spokesperson for LifeLink and said she wants to start a club at Wiregrass Ranch to educate students about becoming organ donors when they get their driver’s licenses. She has also spoken at several events to advocate for organ donation.
“One person who becomes an organ donor can save up to 60 lives,” Brittany said. She then added, “Going through this has changed my whole outlook on life. I wanted to be a lawyer, but now I’m going to be a renal transplant coordinator. What they do is make sure people are ready on all levels for a kidney transplant and go to schools to talk about organ donation.”
More information about organ donations and becoming a donor can be found at www.donatelifeflorida.org or by calling (800) 262-5775. In addition, the Hutchinsons have many boxes of supplies still sealed from when she was on dialysis. The family said anyone is welcome to the supplies if they are in need and can reach them at .
While the last year has been very difficult for the family, things are much better now. They were even able to have a normal Thanksgiving dinner.
“This, in a way, has been a blessing to her,” Debbie said. “This journey has changed her and it’s certainly not over, but now we are very happy she is getting better.”
