For most of us, two kidneys last a lifetime. But Bob Grossinger has already used up three of them. And he needs another. Grossinger, 62, lives in Lynden Township north of Annandale with Cheryl, his wife of 41 years. He worked for the Soo Line Railroad for 34 years doing track maintenance until he received a disability from the company in 1999. That was because of the disease that had shut down the two kidneys he was born with. His youngest son gave him one of his kidneys that year, but now it’s worn out too, and Grossinger relies on a machine to do what his kidney can’t. The solution is another kidney, and Grossinger is on a national waiting list. But he wouldn’t have to wait if he can come up with his own donor, and that would free him from long hours of dialysis. So the couple sat down at their kitchen table last week to tell his story in hopes of finding someone who’ll give him a kidney. "It would be nice," he said, if someone came forward as a result. "It’d beat dialysis." Getting a new kidney isn’t the difference between life and death, Grossinger said. He’s been on dialysis – in which a machine does the kidney’s job of removing wastes from the blood – since January and could continue on it "forever," as long as his insurance pays the cost. Some of the patients at the Sartell clinic where he spends 31/2 hours every Monday, Wednesday and Friday undergoing the procedure have been on dialysis for 17 years, he said. "I don’t think I’d go 17 years. I think I’d quit. "Maybe a guy would go that long," he added a moment later, "but you’d sure as hell not want to. I’m tired of it already. "You can stay on dialysis, but … it takes too much of your life." Grossinger drives himself to the clinic for the 7:15 a.m. dialysis and is usually home by 11:30 or noon. By that time, the day is "pretty much shot," he said. And dialysis "takes the sap out of you. It makes you awful tired." But Grossinger, who’s otherwise healthy, said he keeps active cutting wood, working in his garden and doing other things around the house. "I usually do something all the time. I’m putzin’ or something." He was diagnosed in the 1970s with recurrent IgA nephropathy, which causes his kidneys to deteriorate, Grossinger said. Cheryl said it turns the fluid in the kidneys to "a real thick syrup or a molasses consistency." The organ can’t push it out, and "it just eats away at the kidney." Grossinger received his first transplant at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and remains in its kidney transplant program. Its web site describes the disease as "a chronic kidney disorder caused by abnormal deposits of the protein immunoglobulin A inside the small filtering units (glomeruli) of the kidney." The deposits "impair the function of the glomeruli, which normally filter wastes and excess water from the blood and send them to the bladder as urine." That "leads to inflammation, glomerular destruction and kidney failure." His case is complicated by a condition – transplant glomerulopathy – in which his body would destroy a kidney from another blood type, he said. So a donor must have the same blood type, O positive or negative. The transplant from his youngest son, Scott, of Clearwater has deteriorated in nine years, and the same thing would eventually happen to a new kidney, Grossinger said. So unless a cure is found, it would have a limited life in his body. He’s been on the kidney donor waiting list since August last year along with about 75,000 others. "They say it could be anywhere from five to seven years – but it could come tomorrow," he said. He’s been told finding his own donor is the best way to go. Grossinger has already been disappointed twice. His brother Dale of Watkins was going to be a donor, but tests discovered a medical problem and he was rejected. Then Grossinger’s middle son, Craig, also of Clearwater, "was all set to go too," but that fell through when it was found that a kidney from his blood type A wouldn’t survive in his father’s body. Grossinger’s oldest son, Jim of Lynden Township, has been ruled out because of an earlier medical problem. According to its web site, the Mayo Clinic recommends living donor kidney transplants for several reasons including the fact they last longer than ones from deceased persons. The clinic has performed nearly 2,500 living donor kidney transplants since 1963. It requires that a donor be 18 to 70 years old, in good general health and have normal kidney function, which would be determined in the evaluation process. Conditions that would exclude a donor are diabetes, some cancers, intravenous drug use and certain infectious diseases, such as AIDS or hepatitis. "Although some risks are associated with any major operation, donating one kidney does not pose a major risk to a healthy donor," according to the web site. "Studies show that the remaining kidney will continue to function normally and will compensate for the loss of the other kidney." The clinic mostly removes kidneys by laparoscopic surgery, using a scope to peer into the abdomen and take out the organ through a small incision. Donors are generally able to leave the hospital a day or two after surgery and often resume work in two or three weeks. More information is on the web site at www.mayoclinic.org/kidney-transplant/. Would-be donors should call Kay at the Mayo Clinic, 1-866-249-1648, and tell her they want to donate a kidney to Bob Grossinger. "You never know," Grossinger said as he considered the chances that someone will step forward. "(There are a) lot of people out there."
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