Susan Michelle Summers, 53 – Donor
Kearney, Missouri
Georgetown University Hospital
Donated to Peter Clare
Susan Michelle Summers is donating on behalf of her niece Heather Hall. Michelle works in the library at an elementary school in Liberty, Missouri and is very hopeful about Heather’s newest chance at a transplant. “I’ve been tested twice but because of all the antibodies she’s built up through dialysis and previous transplants, I cannot be her donor. My kidney is too much like her mother’s, which she has already rejected, so they won’t take mine for her. We were hoping that plasmapheresis alone would do the trick but then we got the call asking if we wanted to be part of an exchange and I said, ‘absolutely,’” said Michelle. “Heather and I are close—she’s like my daughter and it’s been hard to watch her on dialysis all these years. I’m really driven to help her this time. I want more than anything for her to have a chance at a normal life.”
