CHICAGO, IL (February 3, 2009) \u2013 Pam Carlson always knew her aunt would need a kidney transplant.
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\n\u201cMy aunt had a kidney transplant more than 30 years ago, when she was in her early 20\u2019s,\u201d says Carlson, a second-year Master of Divinity student at North Park Theological Seminary. \u201cIn the back of all of our minds there was the understanding that it wouldn’t last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlson had not foreseen, however, that one day she would donate a kidney to her aunt, Karla Hanson. But that is what she did last December.<\/p>\n
![\"Carlson\"](\"http:\/\/www.covchurch.org\/uploads\/Rz\/wj\/Rzwjk6LCsLAfjToFDGTddw\/Carlson.jpg\")
\u201cA few years ago, my aunt mentioned that she was ‘going back on the list’, meaning she was at the point where she needed to be ready for another kidney transplant,\u201d says Carlson, who grew up attending Moose Lake Covenant Church in Moose Lake, Minnesota.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, donating her own kidney to her aunt was a decision that Carlson didn\u2019t think twice about. \u201cI think I had made the decision that I wanted to donate before I knew if I would be able to,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
When Carlson saw her aunt during Christmas of 2007, she witnessed firsthand the debilitating effects of a deteriorating kidney. So last spring, she began the process of becoming a donor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started talking with friends and family about the whole idea and asked what they thought,\u201d says Carlson, who got tested to see if she was a match. \u201cI remember waiting for a phone call to hear about the results, hoping and praying that we’d be a match. After hearing that we were, I had to go through an extensive physical and more testing to see if I was healthy enough to donate.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Carlson received the go ahead and the surgery date was set for December 12, she admits, \u201cI felt both relief and a little anxiety.\u201d Fortunately, not only was the surgery itself successful, but her aunt\u2019s body also accepted the transplant. Carlson, too, has since made a full recovery.<\/p>\n
There was no doubt that Carlson was physically fit enough. She played for the North Park University softball team (2003-2005) and hit a home run in her first collegiate at-bat. \u201cCoach (Dan) Gooris always introduces me to people saying ‘you know at her first college at-bat, Pam hit a home run,\u2019\u201d says Carlson. \u201cYes I did, but the irony is that I didn’t hit another home run for the rest of my softball career at NPU.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides, Carlson says emphatically that when it comes to being a kidney donor and giving her aunt a better quality of life, \u201cThis has been more incredible than hitting that home run.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlson attended Covenant Bible College in Colorado and worked at Covenant Bible College prior to attending the university and seminary. She currently attends Immanuel Covenant Church in Chicago.<\/p>\n