Photo courtesy of Jean Sime

By Steve Sears

“Here’s the story of ‘PJ,’” says Jean Sime of Wayne. “PJ is the name of my kidney. And ‘P’ is for Patricia – my donor’s name – and ‘J,’ Jean, my name.”

Sime adds, “I am doing well, knock on wood. It’s been two and a half years now.”

More on Patricia – a loving part of this story – in a moment. 

Sime is a contributor to a book titled Because of Organ Donation. “That book is so important,” she says. “It’s a book with 25 different coauthors where we share our transplant journeys. It’s comprised of not only donors and recipients, but also donor families.”

Sime never gave up. She needed a kidney, but she wasn’t ready to accept one from a living door for personal reasons. In 2013, she was diagnosed with end stage renal disease, which basically means her kidneys were not functioning as they should have been. “I had to decide what I wanted to do,” Sime says, “because I couldn’t live without doing dialysis. I had no option.”

Sime, who started dialysis in 2015 while still working full time, says that, at that time, she was in a funk, in denial. “It took me a while to actually adjust my attitude and say, ‘You know what? This machine, this treatment, is keeping you alive.’ So I could make the best of a bad situation, or I could be miserable. So I chose to make the best out of the situation.” She embraced the dialysis – and others undergoing treatment at the same time. “I would get to the center early, so I could go to every single patient and say hello to them, not realizing what a difference that made. Some of these folks didn’t have any family who would come and visit them, and sometimes just saying hello to someone would make their day.” 

It was the start of what Sime calls her “kindness role,” a special care for others in dialysis that would lead her to become a peer mentor for kidney patients. “These folks were your family, they were my dialysis family, and we relied on each other not only for emotional support, but to educate each other.”

After being placed on the waiting list for a kidney, Sime one day was having routine blood work done while telling her story to the phlebotomist. That same day, after Sime had departed, the phlebotomist ran into one of her co-workers, a nurse of 40 years at the hospital named Patricia Milford, who was seeking to be a living kidney donor. Her hopes for doing so had been dashed twice, so the phlebotomist mentioned Jean’s name to her. 

Milford was very willing to donate one of her kidneys to Sime. “My phlebotomist called me and left a message on my answering machine,” Sime recalls. “It was like, ‘You’re not going to believe this. I ran into one of my co workers, Pat, and we were talking about you, and she’s considering donating her kidney to you. You’ve got to call her.’ I was taken aback, I’m not going to lie. I was truly taken aback, because now my whole mindset is changing. I’m just waiting for this miracle to happen, and this total stranger who I’d never met in my life is offering this selfless gift to me. I couldn’t comprehend it.”

Sime called Pat while undergoing dialysis, and found a very compassionate individual on the other end of the line. Then there were tests to undergo, and it was finally determined that Pat was a match for Jean. After additional testing right up to the day of the transplant as well as additional hurdles, the successful operation was performed on June 25, 2019.

“PJ” was born.

Since then, Sime has been very active with educating and promoting organ donation awareness. She’s a member of New Jersey Sharing Network; a mentor for The Transplant Journey, Inc., mentoring others along their journey from pre-dialysis to transplant and post transplant support; an editor of BC Books LLC and an Ambassador for the Howl The Owl series of children’s books, which focus on organ donation awareness and spreading kindness; and Sime has been a guest speaker for students across the world on virtual webinars, sharing her story. 

Sime, who will also be contributing to another book to be released in 2022, Voices-19, a tribute to loved ones that passed away from COVID (Sime lost a sister to the virus), says, “I always remind myself, when I’m going through a difficult time, what I went through. I’m here because someone saved my life,” she says. “I’m here because someone was selfless and saved my life by donating their kidney to me.”

For more information about Because of Organ Donation, visit www.becauseoforgandonation.com. To purchase the book, email Jean Sime at jeansime23@gmail.com.