WANTED: A kidney for Andy – Blood Type O

Andy Hart, who works as a Detective with the Thief River Falls Police Department, is in desperate need of a kidney. Folks near and far have been sharing a Facebook page that was recently set up by Andy’s wife, Brittany, who created the page in hopes of finding her husband a kidney. 

Andy and Brittany Hart live in Thief River Falls. They have four children. As mentioned, Andy is a Detective and Brittany works at Digi-key. (Andy is also the cousin of Megan Billberg, who is the Grygla Postmaster.)

Andy had a successful heart transplant on December 29th, 2022, at the Mayo Hospital in Rochester, MN. However, his kidneys shut down during the heart transplant and his kidney function has not returned. His wife said, “During a recent return visit to Mayo, we learned that his kidneys have a 0% chance of recovery at this point. This was hard news for us to hear after already going through an organ transplant just 6 months ago.” 

Andy has been approved by the Kidney Team at Mayo for a kidney transplant. He is active on the deceased donor list which unfortunately has a wait time of 4-7 years. Andy is currently doing dialysis 3 days a week for 4.5 hours each session. Dialysis is only a short-term fix as it’s very exhausting and it’s a balancing act when it comes to pulling fluids. It causes a constant fluctuation in his blood pressure and because of this, his medications must be adjusted more than normal. He will never get the full benefit of his new heart while on dialysis. “Because of all this we need to find a living donor so Andy can have a kidney transplant sooner rather than later,” his wife explained.

Receiving a kidney from a living donor yields much better results versus taking one from a deceased donor. 

In her post, Brittany pleaded, “We know this is a HUGE thing to ask and we have really been struggling to post about this, but Andy really needs a kidney to get his life back. Is there anyone out there that would share their spare with Andy? His blood type is O, so the donor’s blood type does need to be O for a direct donation. The – or + in the blood type doesn’t matter.” 

There are other donation options available as well if someone would like to donate and isn’t a blood type match. These options are called “Paired Donation” and “Voucher Donation.” In both types of donations, one would donate their kidney to another recipient so Andy could receive a kidney from another donor. All donations would result in him getting a kidney either right away or as soon as a donor match is found. 

If you are considering being a donor, please do your research as there are risks, disqualifiers right off the bat, and other requirements that the donor needs to consider. The websites below provide more information along with the contact information for the Kidney Team at Mayo. 

In closing, Brittany shared, “We know organ donation isn’t for everybody, so please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers, and please share this. This is one of the hardest things that we have had to post about & everyone’s continued support and love means so much to us.”

Informational websites

Contact info

Email: LIVINGDONORORANTP@mayo.edu 

Phone: 866-227-1569 (toll-free)