MARION, Ohio — Candace Floyd’s kidneys were failing. Her health problems started 10 years ago when she was 25-years-old, with scarring and problems with her blood pressure.
Two and a half years ago doctors said she would need a kidney transplant. So she was added to the waitlist.
Floyd is a mom to three kids and she’s also a media specialist at Benjamin Harrison Elementary in Marion. She was juggling work, parenting, and dialysis.
“[Dialysis] takes over your life and still being young and having three children that was kind of hard to do,” Floyd explained.
She balanced it all as she waited for an organ donation.
“It was all a blur but it was a good blur,” she said.
Floyd said that her time on the waitlist wasn’t as long as it had been for others she knew. But it still felt like a long time. Her wait came to an end, coincidentally, right around her 35th birthday on April 10, 2020.
“Four days later at 10 o’clock at night, a Sunday night, I got a call from a random Columbus number.”
That random call was the news she had been waiting for. Doctors had a kidney for Floyd.
“It’s like a thing where you’re just so shocked. You were like waiting for this moment, but you don’t know how to prepare,” she said about her reaction.
Floyd was one of more than 400 people to receive life-saving donations in 2020 through LifeLine of Ohio.
“In a year of unthinkable loss all thanks to the donors and their families 446 lives were saved and those individuals were given the gift of life,” said Andrew Mullins, the Chief Operating Officer at LifeLine of Ohio.
Mullins said it was a record-setting year.
“We saw increases like we’ve never seen before,” he said. “COVID itself hasn’t really impacted donation per se, if somebody tests positive for COVID-19 that is a rule-out for organ, eye and tissue donation.”
According to LifeLine of Ohio, 446 lives were saved in 2020 through organ donation and transplantation. But there’s still a need. Currently, there are more than 3,100 Ohioans waiting for a life-saving transplant. More than 700 are in central Ohio.
“We encourage everyone to make the decision to register today as an organ, eye and tissue donor,” Mullins said.
And for the person who did make that decision, Candace is forever grateful for the gift of more time with her students, and kids.
“As a mom it’s hard but I’m glad that someone donated so that I could be here for them,” Floyd said.
To find out more about organ donation and to register to become a donor, click here.