Jenna Latz Wagner, a 2002 Cook County High School graduate now living in Phoenix, Arizona, recently offered an incredible act of kindness—she donated a kidney to a friend’s mother. Jenna is pictured here in the recovery room, holding a whimsical stuffed toy given to her as a get well gift. It’s a kidney!
Would you donate a kidney to help a stranger? It is not something most people think about. Jenna Latz Wagner, not only considered it, she did it.
Jenna Wagner, a 2002 Cook County High School graduate now living in Phoenix, Arizona, is a nursing student. When her classmate, Ruth Ann Vallender, posted a Facebook message detailing the desperate search for a donor for her mother, Jenna was moved. Many friends and family members had undergone testing but none were compatible.
Jenna volunteered to be tested and although there isonlya5percentchance that a non-family member donor is compatible, she was a good match. She agreed to donate a kidney to Vallender’s mother, Sharon Scanlon.
The Cook County News- Herald reached out to Jenna on May 14, just one day after her surgery at Banner Good Samaritan hospital in Phoenix, first reaching her mother, Anna Latz who traveled from Lutsen to Arizona to be with her daughter. Anna said Jenna came through the surgery well and the recipient now has a functioning kidney. “They knew right away,” said Anna, noting that that was a great relief.
Anna said Jenna was up to being interviewed. She said, “She’s been a trooper. She definitely wants to tell the story that people can do this. As a mom of someone who has donated, I’ve now been hearing from others. There are two people in my church! They are unsung heroes.”
Anna passed the phone to her groggy but upbeat daughter, who answered questions about the process. Jenna explained that after seeing her friend’s post seeking someone with a blood type of A positive, she and about 10 other friends were tested. After a series of tests, including an antigen test in which the donor’s and recipient’s blood are combined, it was discovered that Jenna was a near perfect match and she agreed to be a donor.
Asked if she was scared for her daughter, Anna Latz said not as much as one would think. She said the medical personnel were great and she had a lot of faith in the process.
Jenna said she wasn’t too anxious about the surgery. Being in nursing school added a different dimension to the kidney donation. “It’s a cool thing to be able to combine school and this real-life experience. I’m a donor on my driver’s license and I’m an advocate of being a donor. It’s neat to be able to do this and see the results.”
Her friend Ruth Ann Vallender told CBS affiliate KPHO how grateful she was to Jenna. “It means my mom can be with us and be healthy and won’t have to have dialysis, and she won’t have to wait for a kidney and get sicker and sicker,” she said.
Kidney recipient Sharon Scanlan said, “There are no words. There absolutely are no words. She is so positive and uplifting. It makes me think, honestly, could I have done that?”
Wagner’s aunt and uncle, Janice and Gary Latz, are not surprised. “To Jenna, donating to a complete stranger is no big deal. She is doing this so freely,” said Gary Latz. “Perhaps more stories like this truly will make it a commonplace event.”
Anna agreed, “The main thing for all of us is to get the message out there that this is possible. There are options.”
Anna added that she and her husband, Jeff Latz, were “very proud” of Jenna. In turn, Jenna noted that when people heard about what she was doing they told her parents her generosity was because of how she was raised. Jenna agreed and with a laugh gave them credit. “They made the kidney…I just grew it!” she said.
From her hospital bed, Jenna told the News-Herald there are no long term effects from donating. “It’s a major surgery, but nothing will really change in my life,” she said.
The recipient’s insurance pays all the medical expenses incurred, but doesn’t compensate the donor for time off work. While in nursing school, Jenna also works as an academic advisor at the University of Phoenix. The surgery was scheduled between college semesters, but she will be off work for four weeks. Latz admitted, “When I realized that, I did think, ‘What am I doing?’”
But despite the cost, she said she would do it again. She hopes that by donating a kidney—and saving a life—she will inspire others to do the same. She has heard from friends who have checked the organ donation box on their driver’s license or considered being bone marrow donors. “That means a lot,” she said.
To help meet living expenses while Jenna Latz Wagner recovers and to be used in case of future medical complications, donations are being accepted at: www.gofundme.com/timeouttransplant.
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