Nurse gets gift of life

Overland Park resident Sandy Edwards, ARNP, FNP-C, used to work on an organ harvest team and said she never expected to be on the other side of the table.

Things changed in December 2008.

Edwards, who works as a nurse practitioner at CVS’s Minute Clinic, found out her liver enzymes were high in the fall of 2008.

“I felt really run down and tired,” Edwards said.

Edwards went for follow-up tests, but then she said when the holidays hit the issue got pushed to the back burner. As a single mother with boys now age 14, 17 and 20, Edwards said she wanted to give her sons the best Christmas.

But by Christmas, Edwards’ liver issues could no longer be ignored.

“On Christmas Day, I woke up deathly sick,” she said. “I woke up and my skin was orange.”

Edwards, 53, went to the emergency room at Shawnee Mission Medical Center, where a physician told her she would need to be transferred to the University of Kansas Hospital.

She soon found out that she would need a transplant. She said physicians could not figure out why her liver had failed, but her condition continued to worsen.

“I became No. 1 in seven states,” Edwards said. “I was dying.”

Edwards comes from a family of nine, all of whom rallied around her as she waited for a transplant.

On Dec. 30, the hospital found a match. By this time, Edwards said, she could not acknowledge her family or surroundings.

But Edwards’ health changed for the better almost as quickly as it had changed for the worse.

“By New Year’s Eve we were celebrating my new liver,” Edwards said.

Edwards had to take a year off from the Minute Clinic to recover. She is now back at work and volunteers as a mentor for Gift of Life.

Gift of Life, based in Overland Park, serves transplant recipients and donor families and provides educational resources to the community.

Andy Donnelly, Life Mentors Program manager for Gift of Life, mentored Edwards. As her mentor, Donnelly shared his experience as a successful liver recipient.

“My boys were there at my side,” Edwards said. “He helped them through it.”

Donnelly said he wants transplant patients and their families to see how healthy a recipient can become.

“Most people don’t know anything about transplants and how successful they are,” Donnelly said. “When I met my first liver recipient prior to having the transplant I was floored by how healthy they looked.”

Edwards now serves as a mentor to share her success story with other patients.

“The whole program is really great,” Edwards said.

Edwards has had good labs for about 14 months.

“Daily I look to the sky and I look to the stars and I thank my special friend above,” Edwards said of her transplant donor.

“I get a little teary eyed every time I start to talk about him,” Edwards said.

Edwards wrote a thank you note to her donor’s family. She said she believes there is a reason God kept her alive and she appreciates her new lease on life.

“I’ve been very blessed,” Edwards said. “Every day is a gift.”

Along with volunteering as a mentor, Edwards also speaks with Gift of Life’s Live Savers program to promote organ donation.

Edwards said one donor can save eight lives and enhance 50.

She encourages nurses to become organ donors and educate others about the need.

Nurses can help the cause by purchasing food on May 26 at Whole Foods, 91st Street and Metcalf Avenue in Overland Park. Whole Foods will donate 5 percent of its proceeds to Gift of Life that day.

“We love to meet people and we encourage anyone who wants to learn more about the subject matter to look at our website or give us a call,” Donnelly said.

For more information about Gift of Life, visit www.giftdonor.org.

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