The request for prayers came via e-mail from an old family friend, Tammy Hamelink, whose 23-year-old son, Kryn, was in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

As Pitcher’s mother read Hamelink’s e-mail aloud, Pitcher became curious, recalling her thoughts on her Web site blog: “What if I could do this? Can I really help in this way? As soon as Mom read Kryn’s blood type (O), my curiosity grew stronger. I knew that my blood type was compatible with his.”

Hamelink’s e-mail also mentioned a contact at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) – Diane Richards, R.N., living donor transplant coordinator – for those who might be interested in donating a kidney.

Pitcher, a student at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, made the call to Richards, who counseled her as she went through the testing that eventually led to Pitcher being declared a match in the fall.

“Basically, she has made herself available to me at anytime,” Pitcher wrote on her Web site blog. “I call. She answers. Yes, she is as busy as ever, my goodness. But yet she still has time to not only answer my phone calls, but go in depth and make sure all is well on this end.”

When Pitcher learned that she was a match, she informed her parents, who embraced her decision.

“I just felt such a peace about it,” Pitcher said. “I was like, ‘I’m young, I’m healthy, I can do this.’”

Kryn’s kidney function, meanwhile, had dropped to about 8 percent. The loss of function was due to Alport’s syndrome, a hereditary condition that affects kidney function as well as vision and hearing. He was fatigued, retaining fluid, and there was an increasingly strong, ammonia-like taste in his mouth. Without a new kidney, dialysis was looming.

After Pitcher told her parents, she called Kryn’s family, and his mother answered. Pitcher recalled her reaction on her blog:

“Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!… Tammy was a little excited. ”

Kryn wasn’t at home for Pitcher’s phone call that evening. “I was at youth group, and my sister pulled me aside and said, ‘We found a match for you,’ and I was like, ‘Yes!’”

Surgery was set for Dec. 9, allowing Pitcher to wrap up her semester work and to recover before the spring semester began. UAMS transplant surgeon Frederick Bentley, M.D., and laparoscopic surgeon Diane Rhoden, M.D., removed Pitcher’s kidney through a two-inch incision using minimally invasive techniques. Bentley then performed the transplant.

Two weeks after surgery, both Kryn and Pitcher were doing well.

“I feel great,” Kryn said during a follow-up visit three days before Christmas. “My energy levels are way higher than they were before the surgery.”

“It’s just been amazing how well it’s gone,” said Pitcher, who was able to leave the hospital after just two days.

Her father, Randy Pitcher, said the families were impressed by the UAMS experience.

“The hospital and the people here, even the housekeepers and the people who bring food are so polite and so accommodating,” Randy said. “They always have a smile and a kind word to say. I’ve never sat in a waiting room where they give you a beeper and update you every step of the surgery. It was awesome to get those updates.”

Bentley said it was rare to have such a young donor and recipient. Typical recipients are in their 40s and older, and living non-related donors are usually spouses.

Bentley noted that immediately after surgery Pitcher’s kidney function was reduced by half, but in six months it will be back to 85 percent.

“The other kidney works harder and actually gets larger,” Bentley said. “People live whole lives with just one kidney with no problem.”

Richards said she was impressed by Alissa throughout the process.

“It was remarkable to see her, as young as she is, come forward like she did,” Richards said. “She was willing to interrupt her whole life; it was truly a selfless act.”

Pitcher’s blog can be found at: http://alissakidney.blogspot.com/

The 45-year-old Conway middle school principal and her nephrologist had been watching her kidneys deteriorate for 20 years as she went about her career and became the mother of three boys. But in 2009, her kidney function dropped to 8 percent. She became hypertensive, increasingly fatigued and lost 23 pounds with a persistent metallic taste that helped ruin her appetite.

She began the process of becoming eligible for a kidney transplant realizing that her rare AB blood type would make finding a match more difficult. Freyaldenhoven had to go through several health screenings that took three months to complete.

“I was hoping a match could be found before having to go on dialysis,” she said.

As she coped with the illness and waited, she kept her principal’s job and maintained as normal a life as possible, even flying to Daytona, Fla., with her husband, Todd, and children Friday, Nov. 6 to attend her sister-in-law’s wedding.

At close to 5 p.m. the same day, the UAMS Transplant Team learned about an available kidney from an Arkansas donor with AB blood. But a check of the database showed that the only other match was a patient too ill for a transplant. Without a patient, the kidney would have to be sent out of state within 24 hours.

“I turned to our coordinators and said, ‘can we have a miracle?’” recalled UAMS’ Gary Barone, M.D., kidney transplant surgeon. “I want to get someone worked up, listed and transplanted in 12 hours.”

UAMS Transplant Coordinator Fadelle Powell, R.N., checked the database of patients who were still awaiting eligibility and found Freyaldenhoven on the list. There were a few loose ends to be tied up, approvals needed, and some issues remained with Freyaldenhoven’s insurance company.

Rather than go home for the day at 5 p.m., members of the transplant team worked the phones well into the evening.

“We get one or two AB donors a year; it couldn’t wait until Monday,” Powell said.

Diane Richards, R.N., the UAMS kidney and living donor transplant coordinator, began making calls to find Freyaldenhoven, Powell said. “Then I got on the phone and called the people involved in giving final clearance,” she said. “This is usually done by our Transplant Committee.”

Meanwhile, Denice Roberts, registered medical assistant and transplant financial coordinator, contacted Freyaldenhoven’s insurance company.

Freyaldenhoven recalled the surprising phone call from UAMS’ Richards. “Of course we were all shocked and surprised, and there were lots of hugs and kisses and worries and thankfulness.”

After learning that her transplant was approved Friday night, she and her family flew back to Little Rock the next morning and she was admitted to UAMS early that afternoon. Barone transplanted the kidney that Saturday evening.

“I am doing wonderfully,” Freyaldenhoven said a month after her transplant. “The nurses and doctors here at UAMS and my surgeon, Dr. Barone, have been fantastic.”

At UAMS our goal is to provide the best care for every patient every day. Our patients say it best, and their stories are really the story of UAMS. All the formal awards and accolades just can’t tell the UAMS story better than the words of our patients.

“UAMS has given me the gift of life – mine, my daughter’s and my dad’s.”

Patient Tricia Satkowski recommends UAMS: “Our family owes our lives to UAMS. Because of my liver disease, no doctor in town would treat me when I became pregnant. Thankfully, UAMS had certified high-risk physicians who took great care of me, and I delivered a healthy baby girl.

“After my daughter’s birth, my liver disease progressed. I found myself on a long, long waiting list and nearing the end of my life. Fortunately, UAMS started a liver transplant program, and I received a liver transplant. A year later, my father also had a liver transplant at UAMS. These transplants saved our lives and restored our health,” she said.

“UAMS has given me the gift of life – mine, my daughter’s and my dad’s. I am thankful every day to be a patient at UAMS.”