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EVENTS. A TOTAL OF 79 WORKERS WILL BE LAID OFF. WELL, ONLY ON FIVE. A LIFE SAVING KIDNEY TRANSPLANT. THAT ALMOST DIDN’T HAPPEN. THE PATIENT WAS IN BOSTON. THE DONOR WAS IN ALASKA. AND TURNING BETWEEN THEM THE HISTORIC BLIZZARD OF 2026. I WAS IN THE MIDST OF IT MYSELF, AND I WASN’T SURE IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. COLLEEN RICHARDS IS A NURSE COORDINATOR FOR THE TRANSPLANT TEAM AT TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER. FOR MONTHS, SHE HAD FEBRUARY 25TH CIRCLED ON HER CALENDAR. THAT’S WHEN KELLEY NIXON, ON THE LEFT, WAS SCHEDULED TO DONATE A KIDNEY TO MICHELLE WOOD ON THE RIGHT. AND I THINK THEY GOT THE DATE IN THERE IN THEIR HEADS. IT’S ALMOST LIKE A BIRTHDAY. IT’S A NEW BIRTHDAY WITH THEIR NEW KIDNEY. MICHELLE HAD BEEN LIVING WITH A GENETIC CONDITION CALLED POLYCYSTIC KIDNEY DISEASE, OR PKD. IT’S DEADLY WITHOUT A TRANSPLANT. SO SHE ASKED FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR HELP, THEN LEARNED KELLEY WAS A MATCH. AND SHE WAS VERY MOTIVATED, VERY EXCITED. WANTED TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP HER HER FRIENDS SPOUSE OUT. AND SHE DID. KELLI AND HER HUSBAND BOOKED A FLIGHT FROM ANCHORAGE TO BOSTON, BUT FOUND THEMSELVES STUCK IN CHICAGO. ALL FLIGHTS TO NEW ENGLAND AND INTO THE BLIZZARD WERE CANCELED, AND THEY OPTED TO RENT A FOUR WHEEL DRIVE CAR. ON MONDAY MORNING AND STARTED THE TREK TO BOSTON. THE TRIP WOULD TAKE NEARLY 18 HOURS. AND I SAID, WELL, WILL SHE BE HERE IN TIME? BECAUSE WE DON’T WANT HER TO DIRECTLY COME GET OUT OF HER CAR AND GO INTO THE OPERATING ROOM. BUT KELLEY ARRIVED WITH HOURS TO SPARE. IT MADE THINGS INTERESTING, EXCITING, BUT BUT ROUTINE AND BORING, WHICH WE LIKE. WE DON’T WANT EXCITEMENT IN SURGERY. YEAH, WELL, DOCTOR VARMA SAYS THERE HAVEN’T BEEN ANY EXCITEMENT DURING RECOVERY EITHER, WHICH IS A GOOD THING. BOTH KELLEY MICHELLE ARE DOING WELL. THEY A
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A kidney donor drove nearly 18 hours through the recent blizzard to reach Boston in time for a life-saving transplant at Tufts Medical Center.Colleen Richards, a nurse coordinator for the transplant team at Tufts Medical Center, was uncertain if the kidney transplant would happen. For months, she had Feb. 25 circled on her calendar, marking the day Kelley Nixon was scheduled to donate a kidney to Michelle Wood.”I think they get the date in their heads. It’s almost like a birthday. It’s a new birthday with their new kidney,” Richards said. Wood had been living with Polycystic Kidney Disease, a genetic condition that is deadly without a transplant. She reached out to friends and family for help and discovered that Nixon was a match.”She was very motivated, very excited, wanted to do something to help her friend’s spouse out, and she did,” Richards said. Nixon and her husband booked a flight from Anchorage to Boston but found themselves stuck in Chicago due to the blizzard.”They opted to rent a four-wheel drive car on Monday morning and started the trek to Boston,” Richards said. “It made things interesting, exciting, but routine and boring, which we like. We don’t want excitements in surgery,” said Dr. Manish Varma, a transplant surgeon at Tufts Medical Center. Varma said there haven’t been any “excitements” during recovery either. Both Wood and Nixon are resting comfortably and looking forward to spring.
A kidney donor drove nearly 18 hours through the recent blizzard to reach Boston in time for a life-saving transplant at Tufts Medical Center.
Colleen Richards, a nurse coordinator for the transplant team at Tufts Medical Center, was uncertain if the kidney transplant would happen. For months, she had Feb. 25 circled on her calendar, marking the day Kelley Nixon was scheduled to donate a kidney to Michelle Wood.
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“I think they get the date in their heads. It’s almost like a birthday. It’s a new birthday with their new kidney,” Richards said.
Wood had been living with Polycystic Kidney Disease, a genetic condition that is deadly without a transplant. She reached out to friends and family for help and discovered that Nixon was a match.
“She was very motivated, very excited, wanted to do something to help her friend’s spouse out, and she did,” Richards said.
Nixon and her husband booked a flight from Anchorage to Boston but found themselves stuck in Chicago due to the blizzard.
“They opted to rent a four-wheel drive car on Monday morning and started the trek to Boston,” Richards said.
“It made things interesting, exciting, but routine and boring, which we like. We don’t want excitements in surgery,” said Dr. Manish Varma, a transplant surgeon at Tufts Medical Center.
Varma said there haven’t been any “excitements” during recovery either. Both Wood and Nixon are resting comfortably and looking forward to spring.
