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Paducah Man Uses T-Shirts to Seek Kidney Donor

Paducah Man Uses T-Shirts to Seek Kidney Donor
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By Bill Hughes
Apr. 20, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY
By Bill Hughes Apr. 20, 2018 | 07:29 PM | PADUCAH, KY
A Paducah man who is in need of a kidney transplant has been getting some extra calls about his situation because of a t-shirt his sister has been wearing.

On April 13, Ronnie Dupre's sister, Brenda Cortez, wore a shirt to the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival in Louisiana, where she and her brother grew up. The shirt, which says, "My brother needs a kidney" and lists his blood type and a phone number, was spotted by local TV station WGNO, and they interviewed her for a story. 

She understands her brother's need, because they were both diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease in the mid-1980s. One of her daughters did not have the gene for PKD, so she gave a kidney to her mom. 

"She was 23 when she did it, and she's in her 40s now and has had three kids since. She's doing wonderful and my sister's doing wonderful," Dupre said. 

Ronnie started having issues after he and his wife, Debbie, moved to Paducah in 1996. His health problems progressed to the point where he was placed on the kidney transplant list in 2014, and is now receiving in-home peritoneal dialysis every day.

After a man wore a shirt last year to a Disney theme park wearing a similar shirt and eventually got a kidney, Dupre's niece "stole" the idea and wore a printed shirt to a Disney park in February. That also inspired Brenda to wear the shirt to the festival last week.

Dupre said he's recently received as many as a dozen calls and texts from people who want more information, but he's not getting too excited. In the last four years, he's had 24 different people offer to donate. 

"Some had made the calls and gone through the initial interviews and have been rejected for one reason or another - if you have high blood pressure, smoke, have diabetes, or are overweight - so there are a lot of things that can eliminate you. I've had others who have gone through the testing and just changed their mind when they got approved." Dupre said. "You know, it's not a trivial thing. It's not like I'm trying to borrow a lawn mower from somebody. It's a pretty amazing thing for somebody to offer an organ, so I can understand their situation."

When he was placed on the transplant list, Dupre was told it would take about two years, but shortly after that, in December 2014, the criteria used to rank transplant candidates was changed. Also, type O patients can only get kidneys from type O donors, but type O donors can give a kidney to anyone. All of that adds up to more waiting and more dialysis. 

Dupre said it can be an emotional roller-coaster when offers are made to help.

"When it starts happening a few times and you realize you can't get too excited, and just try to roll with it. What they say at the transplant center is, 'you don't have a kidney until you have a kidney,'" he said.

If you want to investigate the possibility of donating a kidney, call Ronnie at the number on the t-shirt, 270-331-8233. You can learn more about Ronnie's story and PKD at his website, www.akidney4ronnie.net .  For more information on kidney donation, you can also click the link for the National Kidney Foundation.

On the Net:

WGNO story
Ronnie Dupre Website
National Kidney Foundation website for potential donors
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