‘Your story hit my heart.’
How a coworker made a life-saving decision. A World Kidney Day story.
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“We’ve always been colleagues. Your story hit my heart … I felt deeply for you.”
~Janine
Today is World Kidney Day, a day for thinking about the importance of kidneys, and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.
Most of us tend not to think much about our kidneys until they make their presence known. Sometimes, they make their presence known in a profound way, one that terrifies you and has you contemplating … well, everything.
This is the story of Cleo Scott and Janine Paavola — colleagues turned friends in Global Learning and Development who became family through the amazing journey they shared.
⚕️Kidney disease: A silent killer
Kidney disease is the fastest-growing chronic condition in the U.S. 37 million Americans have kidney disease, and one in three is at risk for the disease, according to the American Kidney Fund.
When Cleo was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease called focal segmental glomerular sclerosis, or FSGS, 20 years ago, she knew that one day her kidneys would fail. She was lucky to be diagnosed early. Kidney disease rarely shows symptoms before it progresses to the final two stages when the organs are damaged and failing. It’s only in these late stages that symptoms can be detected.
This is where preventive care and a good rapport with your doctor becomes a lifesaver. Chronic kidney disease can be discovered via routine yearly physicals that include blood work, or when being blood-tested for other conditions.With Verizon’s insurance plans, a yearly physical is included at no cost as part of preventive medicine coverage.
🔎A four-year search
One thing she never had to worry about was her benefits. “I was fortunate enough to have really good care,” said Cleo “We have such amazing healthcare, and an amazing support system and structure in the company that allowed me to spend the time I needed to care for myself.”
And yet, when she found out that her kidneys were beginning to fail and that she would need a donor, it took her years for her to find one. Her first donor, a family member, was just 48 hours from surgery when an unknown health issue was discovered in her relative.
🔁Hope and disappointment; rinse and repeat
“I heard that Cleo’s surgery was canceled and I felt so sad,” said Janine. “And I wondered if I could be tested. I thought, why not?”
But instead of jumping up and down with enthusiasm, Cleo hesitated, having been through so many tests and knowing every reason Janine might not be able to donate, or might not want to. “I proceeded to tell her everything as to why she shouldn’t. This is really hard. But she comes from such a giving family,” Cleo said.
Janine began to go through the tests to see if she was a match, and she was. Next came the decision to donate and to learn about all that would entail.
“My daughter wondered how mom was going to be different after donating a kidney. I told her I wouldn’t be different,” Janine said. “But my therapist said, ‘You will be different. For the rest of your life you will see life differently because you’ve given part of yourself to someone else.’ And she was right.”
🎁Waiting for the gift of life
According to organdonor.gov, more than 88K patients were on the waiting list for a kidney donor in 2023, more than five times all the other organ donation needs put together. Of those waiting, fewer than 16K patients received the kidney they needed.
“People would ask me why I would do this,” Janine said. “And that’s not how I live my life. Why wouldn’t I do this? The kidney started working the moment it was in place. It was amazing.”
Organ donation is a gift that you can give in different ways. The easiest way to help save a life is by signing up to be an organ donor who pledges to donate vital organs after they die. For living donors, like in our story, kidneys are the most common organ donated; but, living donors can also make partial organ donations of the lung, liver and pancreas.
🎂A happy birthday
“Going through the transplant has changed my life in ways I can’t even imagine,” said Cleo. “I think of it as my new birthday. I was given a new life.”
▶️Watch the video to learn more about how these coworkers are forever linked by a kidney and all that went into it.
It’s easy to see how Cleo and Janine are bonded by love and gratitude. First coworkers and members of the Verizon family; now best friends and part of an even closer family. One that was not related by birth, but created through the greatest gift one person can give another.
Somehow, their bond makes us all a little closer.
“We just have to remember, as much as we support each other for work, when these personal issues and medical issues come up, we support each other just as much,” said Cleo “Our team is amazing. Verizon is amazing.”
🗣️💬Talk to us! This amazing story involves two best friends who each got so much more than they had ever imagined when they began their journey together.
Studies show that having a best friend at work is strongly linked to improvements in profitability, safety, inventory control, and employee retention, as well as employees’ overall satisfaction. Do you have a work bestie? Tell us all about them in the comments!
