WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla- — A Wesley Chapel woman hopes driving around town could be the key to finding her a kidney donor. Another woman ABC Action News highlighted back in 2020 made her a car decal that helped her own husband find a donor.
"I know what it's like being on the other side of this," Brittany Hutchinson said.
Kidney disease is not a new journey for Hutchinson. When she was 8-years-old, doctors diagnosed her with high blood pressure and renal disease. Things took a turn for the worst a few years later, with her kidneys functioning at 11%.
She received a kidney donation for a deceased donor and doctors told her it would last at least nine years, but that wasn't the case.
"Back in October of 2018, I just started swelling up feeling very fatigued," Hutchinson said. "I'd go to work and I'd look around my ankles and they're puffy. I started throwing up a lot, like every single day. And I knew there was something wrong."
A doctor told her she had to get to a hospital immediately where she was told her body was rejecting that transplanted kidney.
Now Hutchinson was back to square one, doing dialysis twice a day, waiting for another transplant along with more than 107,000 others, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. So she turned to social media.
"I shared it with the Wesley Chapel Facebook community page and people saw the need," Hutchinson said.
In May, Patsy Nielsen saw her post.
"I commented on her status and I said, 'Hey, do you have a decal,'" Nielsen said.
Thanks to Nielsen, now she does. And Nielsen continues to pay it forward.
"I want somebody to feel what we felt. And what we still feel to this the day," Nielsen said.
Hutchinson and her mom are the latest to be on the receiving end of Nielsen's decals. She says between lots of positive interactions on social media and around the neighborhood, Hutchinson believes a 2nd kidney will come her way.
"The way we go through things like this, determines the outcome. So for me, positive mindset, positive results," Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson needs a kidney donor with a blood type of O+ or O-. If you're a match, you can call her at 631-949-6604 or email her at brittany.hutchinson@outlook.com.
Nielsen continues making free decals for people looking for donors and their family members.
