By Kevin Haas
RRSTAR.COM
Posted Feb 05, 2010 @ 12:24 AM
Last update Feb 05, 2010 @ 12:26 AM
MACHESNEY PARK — Denise Snelling works to spread a simple message about organ donation: It’s simple.
Snelling saved her sister Michelle Vronch’s life with a kidney donation July 8.
“I don’t think people realize that after this happens, you’re just the same,” Snelling said. “I do everything that I did before. If I had another one to give, I’d give it away, too.”
Both women are back to their normal lives. Vronch returned to work at the Harlem Community Center in mid-October.
“You could tell before that she was tired and needed the transplant,” said Shannon Scheffel, director of Harlem Community Center. “But ever since, she’s been full of energy and raring to go.”
The sisters promised to spread the word about organ donation.
Snelling, of Lexington, S.C., is outgoing by nature. She has turned to local politicians and those seeking office with her goals to bring a transplant program to South Carolina.
Public speaking never came as easily to Vronch, but she has decided to step out of her shell to spread the message.
She’ll share her story at a Rockford Network of Professional Women luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Feb. 15 at Forest Hills Country Club, 5135 Forest Hills Road, Rockford.
“This is so important to me that I just have to overcome that fear,” Vronch said. “If I can get just one person to sign the back of that driver’s license, then I’ve accomplished something.”
Doctors diagnosed Vronch with polycystic kidney disease in 1992. The disease progresses slowly and is characterized by the growth of cysts, which prevent healthy kidney function and often lead to kidney failure.
Polycystic kidney disease is the most common life-threatening genetic disease, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
The disease affects more than 600,000 Americans and an estimated 12.5 million people around the world.
Vronch said she also hopes to organize an annual program to benefit transplant recipients and their families who may struggle to pay medical costs.
She’ll first be the recipient of such an event. Family and friends have organized a benefit for her Sunday.
“I have to pay it forward. That means a lot,” Vronch said.
Staff writer Kevin Haas can be reached at khaas@rrstar.com or 815-987-1354.