Mary Schmidt

Mary Schmidt is a lucky woman.

When her son, Jason, knows someone is having a driver's license renewed, he reminds the person to remember to indicate organ donor status on the application. If the person asks why, Jason says that his mom had a kidney transplant and is alive today because of it.

He doesn't mention that his mom received the kidney from him. "I don't like to draw attention to myself for it," he says. "It was such a natural, easy thing to do for my mom. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, so there was never a question that I would do it. She'd have done it for me over and over again."

According to Mary, when she needed a kidney and she protested Jason's offer to donate, he said, "Forget it, Mother. I'm doing it. I don't want to hear another word about it."

Mary received her son's kidney in 2001. Her health has been smooth sailing ever since. "I can handle anything as long as the kidney keeps functioning," she says.

Jason's kidney was actually Mary's second donated kidney. The first was in 1987. Unbeknownst to her, Mary had a rare kidney disease. She hadn't felt well for about a year. She thought she had recurring flu. When she finally went to see a physician, a test indicated immediately that she was in kidney failure. Her physician referred her to Mayo Clinic. She was put on the transplant list and received a deceased donor's kidney very quickly.

The kidney functioned well for 13 years. She had a blood infection, which caused her creatine level to rise. It never came down. The kidney held out for another three years before Mary's physician at Mayo Clinic asked her, "Do you have any relatives?"

Mary was reluctant to ask one of her children for a kidney. She didn't want to compromise their health in any way. Although both of Mary's children were a match for their mother, Jason donated the kidney because his sister, Andrea, had recently had a baby.

Mary's concerns about her child donating a kidney for her were for naught. Jason was out of the hospital within two days.

"It was so smooth and easy and quick," he says of the surgery. "It almost seems like it was too easy for it to have worked so well."

Jason trained so he'd be in top physical condition and be able to bounce back to normal. "I ran a lot in the months before the transplant," he says. "I always watch what I eat, and my family teases me a lot because my diet has always been so regimented. Now, I joke right back and tell them that I've been in training to give Mom a healthy kidney some day."

Mary also is physically active. "I love the outdoors and I walk two miles every day and bike five miles every day. I want to stay healthy, and it seems to be working. My doctors at Mayo Clinic tell me my kidney is doing great. When they tell me that, I call Jason and tell him. He never asks me about how the kidney is doing because he is so humble, but I think it makes him feel good to hear how well it is working."

She's right.

"I don't think about it unless she says something to me about it," says Jason. "When she does tell me how well it's doing, it brings a smile to my face, especially if I'm having a bad day. It makes everything else seem less important."