“Post-transplant, the energy level is right back to where it was before.”
Kidney Disease, Kidney Transplant
In 1996, Sharon, a registered nurse at Penn Medicine, was diagnosed with kidney disease at the same time she found out she was pregnant. The kidney transplant she received seven years later allowed her to watch her son grow up and welcome her granddaughter into their family.
For Sharon, life post-transplant, has been filled with more energy to do the things she enjoys. In addition to working full-time at Penn Medicine for the past 25 years, she achieved her master’s degree in forensic medicine. Sharon has been very active. She opened a soul food truck called, Footsies Catfish Café with her husband, started a non-profit called, Ryan Family Hope that gives food and essentials to underprivileged kids, and has traveled to Europe.
Sharon participated in the annual Dash for Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness, a run/walk to honor organ and tissue donors, celebrate organ and tissue recipients and recognize those who continue to wait for a life-saving transplant.
In the video below, Sharon discusses her treatment at the Penn Transplant Institute and how the team and patients become like a close-knit family. She says that after her kidney transplant in 2003, she noticed a big difference in her energy level, and she encourages patients who are awaiting kidney transplants to stay positive.