Tireless Champion of Organ Donation

Jenny Gross survived a near-fatal hit-and-run accident in 2005 and has dealt with a lot of pain. Still, she says kidney dialysis nearly broke her bones.

Jenny was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2008, but had to start dialysis in 2020 after accidentally overdosing on thyroid medication.

“I got peritonitis, which was more painful than labor,” Jenny says.

She then contracted a viral infection and had to undergo hemodialysis.

“It was painful,” she says.

“I had to go to the hospital three or four times a week and I was getting really bad migraines. The medication they gave me was just to relieve the pain. Don't take that away.

“The night before I got the call for the transplant, I was in the hospital and thought, 'I can't do this anymore.' I was just going to let nature take its course,” Jenny says.

Jenny says she was devastated when she got the call that a kidney was available.

“I cried for 10 minutes until Sheriden, the transplant coordinator, calmed me down. I knew it meant someone else was going to die, and that person had a loved one.

“I was transferred from John Hunter's private position to his public position and had to wait. I knew I was waiting for someone to die,” she says.

When they arrived on the other side of the hospital, Jenny said the usually very serious nephrologist was “jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store.”

“Once the kidney became available, everything happened very quickly. They had to drain my immune system and take out all my plasma. In the theater, I saw a surgeon operating on my kidney. “I saw it,” Jenny says.

On August 16, 2023, it has been almost a year since the surgery that saved her life.

Jenny is on 10mg of an anti-rejection medication that causes extreme insomnia.

“I usually go to bed around 3 a.m.,” she says.

“I tried to lose weight once, but they refused right away. My doctor thinks I'll be able to lose weight in a year, so I'm looking forward to that.”

During her treatment and recovery, the former Lake Macquarie policewoman is continuing to study for a commerce degree. She is one challenge away from finishing.

“I can't go back to work until I get my insomnia under control,” she says.

Despite this, Jenny is a passionate supporter of organ donation with Donate Life.

“It's as simple as logging into Medicare and choosing to donate. Once you're done, you'll receive a card in the mail. Many people message me to let me know when they receive their card,” she says.

To become an organ donor, click here: https://www.donatelife.gov.au/