Woman Desperately Searching For Kidney Donor
DAVIS (CBS13) — Coworkers, family and friends are calling on the community to help a local woman find a kidney donor.
Katrina Porter has been battling renal failure for half of her life and the fight is getting harder. She was just referred to the UC Davis Medical Center after her diabetes and kidney disease took a turn for the worse.
She's hoping someone sees this story and will find the heart to donate a kidney.
It's a normal Thursday night for the Porter family. Katrina, her husband Marlon, and three of their six children playing Monopoly.
But on game night, the pain Katrina is experiencing doesn't show.
"I see the pain she's in," Marlon said. "It's like I'm helpless."
The state prison employee was diagnosed with diabetes and renal kidney failure at the age of 16. Now 32, she's taking 14 medications a day and in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
"I'm just glad my kids have been able to see me do stuff while I have the kidney disease," she said.
It's not just her family and friends who have rallied around her.
"My co-workers have been awesome ever since they found out I need a kidney," she said.
Her boss at the California State Prisons put her in contact with the head surgeon at UC Davis Medical Center, and her co-workers are helping get the word out.
If Katrina doesn't find a donor in six weeks, she will have to begin dialysis.
"It's something I constantly think about," Marlon said.
Katrina fears for the quality of life that will allow her to live, and how that will impact her children.
"It's really been stressful for me," she said. "I'd be disappointed that I wouldn't be able to see them grow up."
The Porters are hoping people will look into organ donation. Even if they aren't a match for Katrina, that donor could provide an organ to someone else in need.
