Northbrook woman gets 2nd kidney
‘I’ve always been spiritual’ — organ recipient looks forward to resuming life she had pre-2022
Few people appreciate the kindness of strangers quite like Gail Fink.
When the Northbrook woman needed a kidney in 2004, Juan Uribe, then a Texas pastor, gave her one of his.
Two years later, Leigh Anne Uribe, the pastor’s wife, agreed to be a surrogate — to carry Fink’s twin boys because her condition made getting pregnant a risky endeavor.
Late last year, with her donated kidney failing, she was given another — from Shana Schuman, a special education teacher and the wife of a Rogers Park rabbi.
Fink, 64, is home now, after some “bumps” in the road that required follow-up surgeries after her transplant on Dec. 19 at University of Illinois Health.
“I’ve always been spiritual. I love the fact that there are so many religious players helping to save lives,” Fink said.
Fink’s kidney began to fail in late 2022, after a bout of COVID-19 that left her in the hospital. The coronavirus damaged her already failing kidneys, doctors told her.
Fink lived through some “desperate” times. As she got sicker, she was put on dialysis — 3½ hours per session, three times a week.
There were “many ups and downs” along the way, Fink said.
“We almost had a kidney transplant from a woman who found out she was pregnant and decided not to donate,” Fink said.
Another woman was a match for Fink but backed out after her husband became sick.
“I can’t tell you how low I felt,” Fink said.
All she really wanted, Fink said, was to get back to her active life — with her husband, Michael, and twins, Elliot and Ethan, now 16.
Fink worked with Renewal, a New York-based nonprofit that helps match those in need of a kidney with a donor. Fink found out she had a match after Schuman took part in a screening in Lincolnwood in spring 2023.
Schuman’s mother had received both a kidney and a liver from a donor 20 years ago.
“I know the pain that they go through and how difficult it is, knowing you can have a cure and you’re just waiting and praying for it,” Schuman said.
Schuman and Fink met for the first time on the day of the transplant surgery.
Schuman, who is the mother of eight children and a grandmother to eight, said she wants people to know how easy it is to donate.
“Don’t be afraid. You can do something great for someone. … Embrace it,” said Schuman, who said she has suffered no ill effects from giving a kidney to Fink.
As for Fink, now that she’s back at home, she’s looking forward to returning to the life she had before her kidney began failing: swimming, pickleball, bicycle riding and spending more time with her loved ones.
“I’m so grateful for a second extension of my life,” she said. “It’s amazing.”