Kidney transplant changed Elizabeth Hylick’s life forever

DAWSON — In December of 2002, Elizabeth Hylick’s doctor received a phone call from her doctor who delivered some bad news. She was in the advanced kidney renal failure and would have to go into dialysis. That call changed her life forever.

“I was very scared because of all the horror stories I had heard about being on dialysis,” Hylick said. “But I found out later it was the best thing to keep me alive.”

For 12 years, three days a week and three hours a session, Hylick, 68, endured the dialysis. She went on a kidney transplant waiting list six years ago and sat by her phone awaiting the call that a kidney had been found. It turned into a long wait for the retired substitute teacher.

“I was on the kidney transplant waiting list for six years,” She said, “I had to travel to Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta every two years for reevaluation. My tests were always good but because of the antibodies in my blood they said the chances of me finding a donor match were slim to none. But I never gave up hope, I knew that the Lord would come through on my behalf. So I kept praying because I knew that God could do the impossible.”

In late January, six years after going on the waiting list, Hylick’s prayers were answered.

“I never will forget the phone call. They had found a match and had a kidney for me,” Hylick recalled. “My bags had been packed for years, I was ready to go. The next day they wheeled me into the operating room at Piedmont to begin my new life and that’s when the miracle began. The operation was a success and I was only in the hospital for five days. My progress amazed the doctors and staff.”

Hylick returned home, but after being on dialysis for the past 12 years, she discovered that some things had changed.

“It was like bringing home a brand new new baby,” she said. “I had to get used to it and it had to get used to me. One of the biggest adjustments was getting used to urinating again, you don’t urinate on dialysis.”

Hylick is now adjusting to her new life. She is free to travel, which dialysis had limited. She is heavily medicated to prevent rejection of her new kidney, but overall life is better than it was.

“I am on a lot of medications to keep my kidney working properly,” Hylick said. “I take 20 to 25 pills in the morning and 15 at night. It is expensive, but by the grace of God, my church and other churches, the Lord is making the way for me. I feel good right now, I had lost a lot of weight but my appetite is coming back now. It’s just taking a little bit longer with me than it would a younger person.”

Hylick then took a moment to urge people to become organ donors.

“If you aren’t one now, please become an organ donor. It could mean the world to somebody,” she said. “There is nothing to be afraid of and it may help save a life.”