Ultimate gift: Daughter donates kidney to her mother
Courtesy of Robin Durila
Robin Durila is surrounded by her son, Jacob, and daughter, Emily, after they told her that Emily was an organ match and was going to donate a kidney to her mother. The surgery took place in March.
Karen Mansfield/Observeri-Reporter
Emily Durila and her mother, Robin, are pictured post-surgery. Emily donated a kidney to Robin, who was in stage 5 renal failure, in March.
Courtesy Robin Durila
Robin Durila with her son, Jacob Durila. Jacob and Durila’s daughter, Emily, underwent testing to see if they would be a match for Durila, who suffered renal failure and needed a kidney transplant. Emily was a match.
Courtesy Robin Durila
Robin Durila, left, with her daughter, Emily Durila. Emily, a nurse at WHS Washington Hospital, recently donated a kidney to her mother, an agriculture teacher.
Emily Durila, a nurse at WHS Washington Hospital, left, donated a kidney to her mother, Robin Durila, in March.
Emily Durila and her mother, Robin Durila, have a close mother-daughter bond.
But they also share another, unique bond: Emily donated a kidney to her mother on March 3.
“Thank you is not enough,” said Durila, sitting beside Emily on a sofa in their Claysville home. “It is the ultimate gift.”
Durila was born with only one kidney. Most people can live normal, healthy lives with just one, but more than 20 years ago Durila was diagnosed with renal failure that worsened over the past two years.
By February of 2022, she was in stage 5 renal failure, and the kidney function in her solitary kidney had plummeted to 11%.
In December 2021, Durila was placed on the National Kidney Donation Transplant list, and in early February was preparing to start dialysis within days.
But Emily, 21, a nurse at Washington Health System Washington Hospital, and her brother, Jacob, 25, an operations analyst at BNY Mellon, secretly underwent testing and learned Emily was a living donor match for her mom.
“I kept my test hush-hush because I always had a feeling that I was going to be the one doing it,” said Emily, noting Jacob has high blood pressure, which ruled him out as a candidate because kidneys regulate blood pressure.
Durila was reluctant to have Emily donate to her because she was worried about complications, but eventually agreed.
“I always said I would never accept a kidney from one of my children or students,” said Durila, an agriculture teacher at Trinity High School. “I was prepared to go on dialysis until I got a kidney, but that changed dramatically when Em got involved.”
On Feb. 8, while at work, Emily got the telephone call from Allegheny Health Network Allegheny General Hospital and ducked into a room, where a member of the transplant team informed her that she was a match.
Co-workers surrounded her and congratulated her when she emerged, and Emily immediately notified WHS administrators “who were very supportive and encouraging,” she said.
The next day, wearing “I’m a Match” and “She’s a Match” T-shirts, Emily and Jacob broke the news to a stunned Durila.
“I asked how?” Durila recalled. “I was expecting to be on the transplant list for two to four years.”
On Feb. 10, AHN called with the March date for the transplant procedure.
Emily spent four days in AHN Allegheny General recuperating from surgery, and Durila was released after eight days.
Two weeks after the surgery, Emily had to undergo emergency surgery to remove a ruptured appendix, which was unrelated to the transplant surgery, doctors said.
She returned to work April 28, eight weeks post-surgery, and is undergoing physical therapy.
Durila’s recovery has been slow – she experienced unrelated heart complications – but steady, and her transplanted kidney is operating at more than 70%.
Emily’s remaining kidney will grow larger to handle its functions.
Durila, who had to temporarily step away from teaching because of her health issues, plans to return to Trinity High School in the fall.
“I’m extremely excited to return to the profession I love so much,” said Durila. “The transplant has been a key factor in enabling me to go back to do what I love.”
The Durilas are advocates for organ transplants, and Robin Durila noted that living donors can donate kidneys and liver and lung lobes.
More than 106,000 people across the nation are waiting for a life-saving transplant, according to the Center For Organ Donation and Recovery.
Seventeen people die each day waiting for an organ transplant. One person can save the lives of as many as eight people through organ donation, and heal as many as 75 people through tissue donation.
In 2021, more than 90,000 were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant; 24,670 transplants were performed.
Emily and Durila are in the early planning stages to host a Jeep Run fundraiser during the summer to raise awareness about organ donation and living donors.
“We want people to know how important it is. It is a life-changing procedure,” said Durila.
Jacob, who along with his father, Paul, have served as caregivers, said the successful transplant “is like a weight has been lifted.
“We don’t have to worry about it always being in the back our minds that one day this is going to happen – it might happen a year from now, it might be 10 years from now. But now, it’s over, and Mom’s OK.”
Emily still plans to give her mom a Mother’s Day present.
“People keep saying, ‘Now you never have to buy your mom any presents, and you have a free ticket to heaven,'” Emily laughed. “My response to that is, she gave me the gift of life. It’s just so surreal and amazing for me to be able to give it back to her. I can’t imagine not doing this for her.”