From PKD to New Life: Carol’s Kidney Transplant Story

Hi, my name is Carol Radtke, and I was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (PKD) in the mid 90s when I was in my 20s.

PKD is a genetic kidney disease that is usually passed on from one of your parents. I do not have a family history, so I have a mutated gene for this disease. I have been monitored by nephrologists since diagnosis and luckily for me was otherwise healthy, other than a couple of autoimmune diseases.

In my mid 50s I had met the criteria to be placed on the transplant list. I had several people test to see if they were a match and medically able to donate a kidney. My daughter wasn’t a match and my son they denied even though he was a perfect match. I changed transplant facilities due to distance and personal choice. Then I was listed at IU. When listed, I was approached by the transplant surgeon to enter a clinical trial (34 Lives) that takes “unusable kidneys” that come from deceased donors and transplant them.

I was given a kidney in August of 2024, and they also removed one of my diseased kidneys at the time of transplant. Unfortunately, that kidney failed and had to be removed 10 days after transplant. I had to go on dialysis after all, due to the complications from those surgeries, and was actually very lucky that I survived. I had a lot of struggles on dialysis, and my body did not tolerate dialysis well.

A very dear friend of mine, who wanted to donate but couldn’t, introduced me to End the Wait. My son was retested at IU and he was cleared to donate to me. Unfortunately, I had a few critical illnesses from dialysis that delayed my transplant for months. I was finally cleared in January 2026, and my son donated his kidney to me January 23, 2026. They also removed my other native kidney.

Everything has gone perfectly since my second transplant. His selfless decision gave me life. A few facts about living donor kidney transplant:

• You can lose 90% of your kidney function before you have any issues.
• The donor has to go through extensive medical testing to not only ensure that they are a match but to also ensure that donating will not negatively impact their health.
• You can live a perfectly healthy life with only one kidney.
• If the donor ever needs a kidney transplant, they go to the top of the list.