TRUST’s Rapid-Screening Program Helps a Kidney Donor Mom and Grandmom Stay on Track

Lipperman with her son Tony, to whom she donated a kidney

Peggy Lipperman knows a lot about kidney disease and the critical role that the kidneys play in maintaining good health.  Peggy, a retired school teacher and lifelong resident of Ohio, has lived with one kidney since 1993 when she donated a kidney to her son Tony, whose kidneys had failed during the course of his fight with diabetes.

Although her health has been strong since the transplant, a routine check of her kidney function at a Kidney TRUST screening event last September showed that Peggy was potentially putting her remaining kidney at risk with an over-the-counter painkiller.  Follow-up tests revealed that (unrelated to any kidney issues) she was in the early stages of lymphoma.  “I will be forever grateful for that blood test,” says Peggy.  “It led to the cancer being discovered at a very early stage, which definitely improves my chances of beating it.”

Peggy lost her son Tony over ten years ago, but knows that by donating a kidney she gave him six more years of life.  Peggy, who retired in 2003 at the age of 67, has four other children and eight grandchildren, along with 11 more step-grandchildren from her second marriage.

Lipperman and granddaughter Ally

Peggy is actively involved with her big family, including caring for granddaughter Alison, who is now four years old.  Alison’s mom, Ann Vogt is a regional operations director for DaVita, Inc. and Peggy is sure that Ann gravitated toward a company that focuses on kidney disease because of Tony.   When Ann asked her to participate in the DaVita Kidney Awareness Time Run/Walk in Cleveland on September 26, 2009, she was happy to oblige.

“The walk was rained out – it was a crazy rainstorm – but I got to The Kidney TRUST screening booth as they were closing and they reopened just for me,” says Peggy.  “The staff couldn’t have been nicer – after having my blood drawn and waiting for the results I learned that my creatinine level was a little high and that I should follow up with my doctor.  I also had a wake-up call when I learned that the painkiller which I was taking for my arthritis could be harmful for my kidney.  I haven’t taken it since.”

Peggy followed up with her doctor, who supported her decision to stop taking the painkiller, but was generally reassuring about her overall kidney health.  Like most kidney transplant donors, Peggy continues to do well on one kidney.  But in the course of addressing the potential kidney issue, the doctor discovered an anomaly in her blood test that led to an early cancer diagnosis – a totally unexpected turn of events that left Peggy feeling that she “had an angel in my corner.”

Lipperman enjoys a cruise with her family.

According to TRUST president and CEO Barbara Lawson, “Although our screening program isn’t designed to detect cancer, it does provide a snapshot of an individual’s kidney health.  Armed with the knowledge that our kidneys might be at risk, we can take action to protect them.  In The TRUST’s screening program, we’ve found that over 15% of the people we test have warning signs for kidney disease.”