Why I Need a Transplant - My Kidneys are Wimps

My name is Mary Ann Hope. My full time job is searching for a living kidney donor because I’m losing my fifty+ year battle with lupus.  Even though I’m seventy now and made liars out of doctors who said I wouldn’t survive twenty, my kidneys are finally giving up, the wimps. Riding my pony and dancing keep me looking healthy, but my lab numbers say otherwise. My living donor search is imperative since I may not survive the five+ years wait for a deceased donor kidney, I may be so damaged from dialysis that a transplant won’t be possible or I will be too sick to undergo the four hour surgery. A living donor is my best chance for survival.  What follows is my story:

I have had a Bucket List since I was a little kid. I wanted to be a cowgirl, violinist, dancer, teacher, writer, drive a big rig, sing in the Messiah and be in the circus. I haven’t gotten around to the last one … yet.

I am blood type O+, but my transplant center has a Paired Donor Program, where my donor may match someone else whose donor might match me.  I feel hopeful that a donor will come forward for me!

For more information about giving the Gift of Life, contact my exceptional team at IU Health Transplant Center at University Hospital in Indianapolis:  800 382 4602 or 317 944 4370 or online at www.iuhealth.org/transplant. 

Please mention my name, Mary Ann Hope.

Thank you!

This is the rest of my story ……………..

In my first ballet lesson at age five, I was too awestruck to be afraid of the Russian teacher who beat the rhythm on the floor with a stick taller than me.  I was hooked.  I tour jete’d through much of my life until I collided with Flamenco, the raucous, emotional dance of the gypsies of southern Spain.  This dance remains a vital part of my life thirty years later. The costumes are gorgeous and you can’t have too many! 

After teaching Special Ed for a couple of years, I rode off to a quarter horse ranch in Illinois. My job was transforming  towering ex-racehorses into regular riding horses.  My motto was “Just Stay on and Don’t Die!” 

I then drove an 18-wheeler cross-country hauling “go-go girls”, trucker talk for hanging sides of beef.  I got off the road because I couldn’t stand the music anymore and retired from the truck line twenty years later. I retired again after another fifteen years in the Ballroom Biz.  So stressful!  I had to pick out a fun party outfit every week!

My move to Bloomington, Indiana was to be near my family. I added on to my sister Nancy’s home so we could be crazy old ladies together with our poodle, Lucy.  My nieces, Hope, Jill and Beth are my rock and support group.  Watching their children, Lindsey, Lincoln, Sydney, Ben, Lilly and Hadley grow up is the best entertainment ever!

Adorable, sweet pony Flash and I have been in dressage training for the past two years and LOVE learning new movements. He is my best friend. (Horse people will get this.) Our goal is to show in the Century Class, where horse and rider ages equal 100.  We’ll make it – we’re 95 now!

Dancing with my flamenco family, Baila!Baila! is a fiesta wherever we perform.  I have been forced to travel to Spain several times for flamenco shows and classes and to ride magical Pura Raza Española horses. Flamenco in España is unrivaled and riding a PRE is just like riding a unicorn!  

Someone has to do it. 

¡Olé!