PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Miranda LeBrasseur holds a sign she has had printed in an attempt to find a kidney donor.
BY MICHELE DURGIN
LYNN — Hope is a word Miranda LeBrasseur uses a lot.
A diabetic since the age of 17, the 40-year-old mother of two and kidney disease patient survives with daily insulin injections and knows that she could be added to the list of 70,000 Americans waiting for kidney transplants.
“All in all, life is okay and I have to keep looking ahead to better days,” she said.
But the Lynn native also knows donating a kidney still allows a donor to live a healthy life with one kidney and because blood types do not restrict potential donations.
“I am on daily medications that are working, for now,” she said. “I hope I can continue to be involved in my kids’ lives and hopefully, I will receive a new kidney sooner than later.”
A 1995 Lynn Vocational Technical Institute graduate, LeBrasseur looks past her daily reliance on insulin and the deterioration of her kidneys. Instead, she focuses on the hope the National Foundation for Transplants offer people in need of healthy kidneys.
“I appreciate all of the people who help me in my day to day life and I am so lucky to have the friends and family who take over for me when I have bad days,” LeBrasseur said.
She estimates her transplant wait will be six years.
A healthy person between 18 and 75 can qualify as a donor. A health screening, along with a full day of testing and evaluations, is performed on potential donors, according to the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Transplant Center.
LeBrasseur said there is up to a 60-day wait for test results. If a donor turns out to be a match and agrees to the procedure, they can expect a two- to three-day hospital stay, followed by up to six weeks in recovery.
“If my story makes just one person become a donor I will be so very happy and grateful, even if the match turns out to be for someone else in need of a transplant,” she said.
