Dentaltown May 2018 - 82

Good

"I could do that."
Tim Buckley's son
"told me he would
never forget the
look on his dad's
face when he said
he had a match.
That was just
priceless."
- Ann Dohm

That's what Ann Dohm, a hygienist at Hillside Dental in Eau Claire, Wisconsin,
told longtime patient Tim Buckley after she learned that he needed a kidney transplant.
Buckley has polycystic kidney disease, a chronic, genetic condition that causes the
kidneys to enlarge and lose function over time. He was diagnosed about 15 years ago,
and recently lost a sister to the disease.
"You don't really know you have it until it gets to the point where you aren't feeling
well anymore," he said.
A nephrologist who monitored Buckley's condition determined in November 2016
that his condition had become serious enough that he was eligible for a transplant.
Buckley was placed on the donor list and his close friends and relatives were tested to see
if they were eligible donors, but for various reasons none of them made a perfect match.
After half a year, Buckley went in for a routine checkup and told Dohm that the
University of Minnesota would possibly contact the practice for his dental records.
"When I learned he didn't have a donor, I said to myself, 'Man, he's got to be able
to see his grandkids!' " Dohm said. "As he was leaving, I asked what it took to donate.
The next night, I couldn't sleep so I went to the website and filled out a survey; the next
day, the university called me when I was on my way to Minneapolis to visit my kids."

A perfect match
Dohm and Buckley had always had a friendly hygienist-patient relationship. Over
the decade that he'd been going to Hillside Dental for semiannual cleanings, the two
had learned about each other's families and shared many conversations. However, they
never maintained a friendship outside the practice.
Dohm, who's been a hygienist at the practice for 28 years, knew that donating her
kidney would be no easy task, but she was up for the challenge. Once she answered
some preliminary questions online and had lab work done, she went to the university
and underwent eight hours of testing-she met with a social worker, a physician and
a nephrologist, and even had a psychological evaluation.
She kept in constant contact with Buckley, letting him know when she passed each
test. A couple of months passed. Then, in August 2017, Dohm learned she was a match.
"I knew I would be a match. I just knew it," she said.
She texted Buckley and asked if she and her husband could come over. After talking
with him and his wife for a bit, Dohm reached into her purse and pulled out a can of
kidney beans.
"These kidneys will have to do until you get mine. I'm your match!" she said.
Buckley fondly recalled that day. "It was a huge weight off my shoulders. I didn't
have to wait for that call three, four, five, six years from now. You never know when
that call is going to come. This was awesome."
Then, it was time to set a date. Because Dohm needed to have recuperated by the
time her son got married in May, the procedure was planned for Jan. 24.
"She was so upbeat, I could hardly believe it," Buckley said. "She was just so excited,
it was overwhelming. The doctors gave her every opportunity to back out and she stuck
to her guns. She went through with it."

A lifelong friendship
The surgery went off without a hitch.
"Our families sat together in the waiting room-they took up the whole thing!"

MAY 2018 // dentaltown.com

http://www.dentaltown.com

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