Saturday, December 26, 1998
Transplant recipient shares pin ... and hope
By Malinda Ruble
Staff Writer
BASCOM - It was a beautiful sunny day, when suddenly a cloud moved in front of the sun and the sun's rays pierced through the cloud to beam down to earth.
''Look, Mom, the angels are taking the souls up to heaven,'' Katie said.
This wasn't the first time Katie had taken notice of the power of angels.
Fourteen-year-old Katie Wertz, who has a kidney-destroying disease called Focal Sefmental Glomerulosclerosis, not only believes angels have helped her through tough times, but has passed on the special gift of angels to others in need.
Katie waited 1 1/2 years to receive a kidney transplant and then, just before Thanksgiving, her prayers were answered.
''Katie's name was first on the computer. She was a perfect match,'' said Bonnie, Katie's mother.
The transplant seemed to have come just in time.
Shortly before word of the transplant came, Katie had a close call with death.
''She bottomed-out on her blood pressure and came close to a coma and death,'' Bonnie recalled.
Katie was not feeling good that day, so Bonnie had decided to stay home from work, but at the last minute, Katie decided to give school a try.
While in class, Katie passed out and her mother rushed to the school.
''She was so cold. Her eyes would roll back into her head. And I told her if she could hear me to squeeze my hand. She did. I told her, 'You know what you've got to do. Don't close your eyes,' '' Bonnie said forcefully.
With her mother's help, Katie survived when others may have died.
''I don't know what made me stay home that day,'' Bonnie said.
Then on Nov. 8, Katie received a new kidney - a gift from a child her own age.
''There are 45,000 people in the United States waiting for kidney transplants,'' said Bonnie.
''I'm just glad I got one,'' Katie added.
The donor family requested all of their child's bones, organs and tissues go to children in need.
''I would love to meet the donor family. It would be neat to put all of the children this girl helped in one room - that would be the best gift of all for the donor family,'' Bonnie said.
Once Katie got her kidney, she decided it was time to pass on her own special gift from another child long ago.
About seven years ago when Katie was in the hospital, she became friends with a terminally ill girl named Beth. Before leaving, Beth gave Katie a special angel pin.
''She told her to keep this angel pin until she could smile again. She said the angel pin would look over her,'' Bonnie said. ''The angel isn't supposed to necessarily cure you, but just help you until you can smile again.''
For years, Katie kept the pin and often felt angels kept her safe.
With a new kidney at work, Katie felt it was time to pass the angel pin on to someone else again.
''The pin went to a man at the Green Springs Rehabilitation Center. He was an older man we had heard of. He couldn't talk or move, but at that instant, it felt like it was the right thing to do to give it to him.
''The guy was just giving up and she (Katie) made an adult see what is important. She showed him, 'If I can do it, you can do it,' '' Bonnie said.
With the help of the pin and Katie, the man was able to be home for the holidays.
''He actually smiles now. That's something we haven't seen for a long time,''the man's son wrote.
The angel pin was passed on to a woman in Risingsun with a brain tumor. The woman had surgery and now has hope for a future.
''The angel pin must be looking over everyone,'' the son wrote.
Bonnie and Katie believe the angels are.
''I believe in angels. They guide you. There's always a reason for everything,'' Bonnie said.
And now there are a few more believers in angels, thanks to Katie.