Hello, and welcome to the gifted life podcast where we have conversations about organ tissue and eye donation and transplantation. You can always find us at thegiftedlife.org. I'm Racey. I'm Joey Boudreau.
Where's Nyla? I don't know. I heard something about a beach or something else. I'm not sure anything from working to the beach.
I know she's not in the studio. We feel your lost, Nyla. We feel your not here. Yeah, so she's going to be back in a couple of episodes and she's going to miss a good one today.
We have quite a power packed episode for you coming up today. We'll be hearing how one family embodies what it takes to make life happen. An incredible story full of twists and turns you'll hear about right here on the gifted life podcast. Stay tuned.
I'm going to say everybody here on the gifted life podcast. We are excited to introduce you to our newest friend. His name is Mark Thinrich. Hey, Mark.
Hey, guys. How are you? Good. Joey and I were prepping for this interview and we were like, wow.
So you've been on national shows because his story is pretty incredible. You're a four time living kidney recipient and you receive those gifts from family members. Yes, that's correct. I got my first one from my mom, second from my dad, third from my uncle, and fourth from my cousin, which you know, it's certainly grateful for all of them.
In fact, they were all matches. Yeah, so incredible. And as we watch one of the things that Joey and I were talking about, we're like, man, he just like a really cool dude, like humble, nice, and just so grateful for where you are in life. It's not about me anymore, right?
So it's about all the other people that are going through these struggles and hopefully shed some light. So let them know that it's really, you know, there's brighter days at the end of this. So my journey is hopefully, you know, on the right path. And I know some people are just beginning their journey.
So they've got to keep their head held high. And I love that you said, I just want to provide hope. And if I can share my story and that provides hope, and that's a good thing that's been done. Yeah.
A lot of people you sit in there and die out to center and the word hope doesn't really resonate in those places because it's a pretty depressing situation or a bit. If you can get the transplant, get out, experience your normal day to day life. All you want to do is go back and help those people. One of the things that also kind of struck me is I know you kind of held it quiet, you know, the whole transplant thing for a while, and of course, until later in life, you actually came to know donation and transplantation even before you were able to understand things, right?
So when was you? Can you take us through the early days of when you were understanding what was going on? Obviously, you know, being an infant or a toddler, you know, with kidney disease and that's not something that most people have to deal with. So can you take us a little bit through some of that and things that you were told from your parents and things like that?
Yeah. I mean, my parents, they're pretty transparent with everything that was going on. But I was still treated as a normal kid. I would go out skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling, ATV, which today is one of my favorite hobbies.
But there's always been precautions with it, right? Like you're not going to go out and be a madman on the ski slopes. You're going to go out there and be cautious about it because I was looking at the model, you got to make it to work on Monday. And then they kind of touched upon why I kept it quiet.
So maybe this is not the best approach, but I have most of my background in finance and IT. So usually when people, you know, it's a very competitive industry. So people see that there's a point of weakness with somebody. As they added, sometimes they attack that point of weakness.
So never wanted to come off as weak to anybody in my career. So whether that's the right reason, I hit it or the wrong reason, that's just kind of why I always kept it quiet. But now you're screaming it from the rooftops. We've seen you on national shows and publications and you want people to know.
And the thing that got us, we were doing our research, your first transplant was at 21 months. Yeah, that's correct. And so, and then 13? 26?
And then 34? Yeah. You know, obviously you were 21 months, so you don't remember. But can you tell us a little bit about what your family's understanding was?
Obviously, you know, an infant or a toddler having like an end stage kidney disease needing a transplant is isn't something that most people experience. So can you take us a little bit through what at least their understanding and the whole transplant piece was for them? Yeah, I mean, I can only hypothesize of what they were going through. Obviously, 21 months old, I didn't really know what was going on.
It wasn't until probably about my third one. Well, I would say maybe my second one, I started understanding a little bit more. And then my third one, obviously, I was 26. I knew everything that was going on.
And then, you know, my fourth one, same thing as the third one, like, you know what's going on. You know what the road looks like. And you hope you get to the end of the road with the transplant. Did you have to go through dialysis at any point?
I did. So between my second and third, I did about four months worth of dialysis and then third before I did four months worth of dialysis. So what are those conversations like? Because we know your mom, your dad, your uncle, your cousin stepped up and got you to where you are today.
So by 13, you said you kind of started knowing a little bit about donation that someone would have to step up to help you. And so, I mean, obviously, a close, amazing family from what we can gather from watching the interviews and things of that nature. But walk us through that family dynamic and that support system that you obviously have going on. Yeah.
I mean, I think as I was growing up, everybody, on either my mom's side or my dad's, I kind of knew what situation I was in. And everybody always wanted to help out. So it was never like, oh, you know, Marcus, granted this long journey ahead of him by himself. I was always like, we're in it together.
And then around, I want to say 22, 23, I met my wife and her family came to bat for me as well with my third transplant. They were around for the third one and just most recently my fourth one. So I think all the people that I've kind of surrounded myself with are pushing me to do better. So that's kind of why I take their support and I've projected on to other people is I want them to do better.
Like I want them to keep the light and keep the hope as opposed to, you know, just sitting there in your dark, dreary days of dialysis. I've sat in dialysis centers. It's not enjoyable at all. Unfortunately, I'm usually one of the younger people there.
However, you know, there are other people that could be 10, 12 years old of me, but they don't even have anybody want to donate to them. So that's kind of the end of the road for them right there until somebody's like, they want to help out. Of course, you know, as people that have listened to the podcast, you know, we've talked about this before, but there are over 110,000 people who are waiting for a life-saving organ, almost a hundred thousand of those being waiting on kidneys, you know, and, you know, now we get to the point where most people know someone or have come into contact with someone who has lived within stage renal disease, who's lived either either has been living on dialysis or was near dialysis. So, roughly last year, so 2023, we had about almost 50,000 transplants altogether.
So obviously the, you know, the supply and the demand don't match up, which is why we're here, you know, we're here to try to get everyone to understand donation and ultimately we want everyone to say yes, right? You know, so, but, you know, even though we're getting people to say yes at a higher rate, there's still that need. Well, and with you, obviously your family stepped up. Yes, I, there's a lot on-pack there, right?
So I think the dialysis centers are speaking specifically to kidneys, right? It's unfortunate, but an insurance company makes more money with a person being on dialysis than transplanting them. So a lot of hospitals need to push more towards transplantation as opposed to dialysis. Also, they're, you know, as you're sitting on dialysis, it's like a prolonged death sentence.
Most people don't last for, you know, seven to ten years on dialysis and that's it. What's been the best part of my journey with this is, ever since I did start speaking out, I've been able to help other people that either need the kidney, so I refer them down through my doctor down in Texas. And they, you know, one of them right now is working through getting the transplant. Or it's just a matter of, you know, hey, I know somebody who needs the kidney, can you talk to them because they don't really know what this is like.
They're not educated. And the family doesn't know what it's like because they've never been through it before. So I kind of look at myself as a veteran of who's been through it. So I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of what it's going to be like.
So I like to help people out like that. Okay, dude, it's not the end of the world. You're going to be fine. Just we got to push and advocate for you.
And then I think a lot of places we fail to educate people to what a donation really is like. And how I guess impactful it is the recipient and not impactful it is to the donor. I think that's the biggest thing if we can educate more people and then come up with better ways of actually doing transplants. You know, she might need transplant programs.
A lot of stuff is very important to these days. So like it's a manual process. Well, and you said education is music to my ears, Mark. That's what I do.
And you're right. A story like yours carries so much weight in these communities where they work, where they live, and where they participate in like extracurriculars. So you kind of helping to say it's time for us to start telling our stories. I think that works.
Joey, when you were talking about the need for kidneys, since I've been here at Lopling, we've seen this sway here in Louisiana. And so now on social media or on billboards that are on fences as you travel through these different communities, you see a pop on into kidney. Please call to get checked. You see more of that.
You hear more of that. People are talking about it. So for them to have the right information, for them to have access to that information, I think it's so very important. So Mark, we appreciate you, you know, you're sharing your story and you're standing up and helping to educate us.
That's amazing. Yeah. And I think one of the things that I'm kind of, you know, a passion of mine is educating people. And I'm currently working with the doctor on what that education material looks like for somebody who's going to need a transplant and what we can do to help them become more educated.
So that's kind of been like a project I've been working on with him to say, Hey, listen, you know what, you have all these people that need a transplant. Well, look at all these people in the community educated and we'll talk with people start stepping up more. I have to say, Mark, you know, I've been in the field for over 20 years and you are one of the first people that I've spoken to that's a four time transplant. I know, right?
That's amazing in and of itself and for your family again, to step up, you know, in the way that they did, obviously is a testament to how close knit you guys are and how much love that they have for you. I'm curious, you know, you talked about, you know, your second transplant and then you're 13 and then you're third transplant, you know, about 10 or so years later. So at what point did you guys start figuring out, you know, that what was causing the transplant to fail and not to say that it's bad because, you know, 10 years on a transplant, we, you know, being the clinician that I am, like I'm excited with that. But at the same time, obviously you had a needing four at some point, you had to figure things out and say, all right, there's something going on that we need to fix.
So I actually on my third transplant, I see my third transplant, probably about six months out from receiving it and I just had a flare up, wasn't feeling well, like we're back to Minnesota and as I fly back to Minnesota, my normal neurologist or transplant neurologist was out. So they're like, hey, we have this other neurologist who can see you. I said, you know, I don't really care. I just need to be seen right now because I don't feel well.
So I get out there and I talk to this neurologist and he just, I remember walking in the room, he's like, oh, we're gonna figure out what's going on here. It's all right. You know, whatever. I've been in the hospital before, so I really put much faith in understanding what was gonna happen.
So about a week and a half, two weeks later, I get a call from him and he's like, hey, I found out why all your kidneys have failed. And I'm like, well, two weeks later, he's like, well, listen, you know, you went for genetic testing. He's like, I've looked at every biopsy that you've had since you were 21 months old, you have genetic age, you rest. And he's like, any time it flares up is when your kidney fails.
So he's like, now that we know what you have, we need to try, we need to treat that. So at the time it just so happened, there was a new medication on the market, uh, so Ralas or who's a map, however you want to call it. And I was, you know, meant to treat people with genetic age, you asked. And he's like, Hey, I think we should give a shot.
I really have many other options at that point. It was either that or just kind of move on. So I tried it and I've been on it ever since. And when my third transplant failed, there was no signs of genetic age, which is why they pushed me for the fourth transplant because I was like, Hey, the first three, you really didn't get a fair shake because we didn't know what was what the issue was.
But the fourth one, we know what the issue was and we treated it. And we think this is going to be very successful. Wow. I mean, I'm learning a lot here today and I'm just kind of thinking, so you've been through four times, I'm just curious physical and mental symptoms leading up to each transplant and then how you felt after.
And then when it looks like, okay, we've finally correct this case and you got that fourth transplant, how differently you're thinking was then can you walk us through that? Yeah, I don't think you'll ever get it out of your mind, right? Like there's, oh, there's a treatment for it now and you haven't had it for eight years. But there's always still that doubt that something's going to happen.
But it never leaves your mind 100%. Um, however, over the past 10 years, it's significantly reduced thought in my mind. So I think the biggest thing I kind of experienced is after your transplant, you know, you go from being fatigued, laying in bed all day to barely even being able to walk from one end to the other end of that. So now I'm out, I'm, you know, working in my yard, I'm out eating with all my buddies, I'm traveling, you know, trying to just experience life, which I wasn't able to do prior to the transplant.
And I think that's what people need to understand is like you're going to feel pretty crappy while you're on dialysis. But once you're off dialysis and you get transplanted, you're going to feel amazing. So, and I think my drive has always come from, there's a greater purpose for me to be here. It's, you know, it's not to keep, you know, transplanting me and I think sales.
So I think my greater purpose in life is to help people and to educate people. I may not be here for a long time. Hopefully I am. But if I'm not, my mission would be complete if I help people with transplanting.
That's, that's amazing. I know. I was going to say clearly, you know, you are fulfilling that mission, you know, that you, you coming on the podcast, you going on, you know, talk shows being interviewed is so important for us. And I say us because you're a collective us as well.
We try to, that's our mission in life is to educate the public, right? Is to try to get more people to know about donation and to have people like you who are paying it forward so that others can then get that second chance. And even it might not, they might not have that, that option of a family that matches. And we didn't even go into that much because it's not all, you know, that's not always the case that a family member matches.
Like you think automatically that they should, but it's not necessarily the case. And mom, dad, uncle, cousin, I know, I know, so, so that they can have, you know, others can have that yes. Yes, I think a lot of people when you go back, you can kind of roll back a little bit education, right? So a lot of people walk in, to your point, I think a family member can be matched.
It may not be the case. Yeah. So a lot of people not even educated, they have swap programs out there. So your family member may not be a match, but somebody else is going to remember might be a match and you can swap kidneys.
A lot of people don't realize that. And it's not a very prevalent program these days. Yeah, we've had a case here in Louisiana where we all learned from it and that was just the case, we have a voucher program, which is also something new that we learned about, but you're right, the more we talk about it, the more comfortable talking about it, then we learn together and we educate and we're not, it's not a scary thing. And getting to his point about the swap program, like it's a kitty pair donation.
You actually talked about that a couple times on the podcast and it's not something that's, it's still something that's growing, you know, as far as the transplant centers are concerned, it's still, I wouldn't say it's an infancy anymore. It's more, you know, in the teenage years, so to speak from a program standpoint, it's not as prevalent as say, you know, someone who's passed and donated and then the other piece who's, you know, family is a direct donation to them, but that is something that's growing. And the more we talk about it, the more, you know, people can learn about it, they can ask their transplant center, hey, do you participate in the kidney pair donation program? Because as you mentioned, like that is a very important extra option that's out there.
You might have someone, a family member that wants to donate, but there's not the match. But with this program, essentially, it's a chain of different transplant centers and different patients and, you know, different donors and recipients. And once that chain gets connected, then that kidney pair donation takes place. And so you'll see oftentimes at one time and essentially you'll have eight to ten people.
And it's usually covered on the news. It's a beautiful thing. And it's a beautiful thing that's going to be a little bit more than the transplant because of this one kidney pair donation chain. Yeah.
And I think that a lot of people need to understand that that's an option. Yeah. One, your help into it to put that out there. Yeah.
Some transplant programs are on a quick session to do those swap programs. Yeah. And that's what we're trying to keep, you know, that at the forefront when we're, you know, having these, the community events and things and people ask us about donation, that's certainly something I agree that needs to be out there a little more than, you know, than it is. One other question.
So once you got to that, you know, to the third and they figured out, all right, this is, you know, this is this genetic issue is being treated. So how difficult was it once your kidney failed to, did you have to go to your cousin and say, Hey, would you, you know, would you try or how did that conversation go? I didn't ask anybody. Um, Mike, then we put the message out and that was, I didn't ask the single person.
Family loves you. Wow. And they all stepped up. Talk about your life today.
So you started this journey 21 months. So how old are you today? I heard you say you were married. So what is life like for Mark Finrich after four transplants?
Yeah. I mean, I'm a normal every day. I work as an IT project manager. I got two pops.
Um, my wife, we live out in South County, Long Island, kind of relatively normal, normal life. There's really not many limitations. Yeah. Experiencing birthdays and anniversaries, all this wonderful, you know, wonderful things, life events, thanks to these awesome people who, who stood up.
Yeah, this Sunday will be the one year anniversary for the fourth one. Wow. Well, this has helped us to learn. So thanks for, for teaching us today and for spreading education awareness where you are and across the airwaves and these publications and just sharing your story.
Anytime I appreciate it. I appreciate very much for having me. All right. Open Mike here at the gifted life as you reach new milestones.
I mean, call and let us know. I'd love to visit with you. Excellent. And I'll definitely keep you guys in the loop.
I appreciate all the time you guys took the talk to me today. In our question and answer segment today, how long does the donation process take? Joe, you want to walk us through? Yeah, I get this.
Of course, I've gotten this off and throughout the years because a lot of times, you know, when people think about what we do, I go back even to my family years in kind of thought, well, you know, you just go in and they thought, you know, the whole thing you see on TV, where you just go in and I guess you know, you see people who cools and they're going. And it's much more than that, obviously, first, you know, it's, it's about the support for the family. We don't want to rush any of that because they're always in a in an acute grieving state. And so we'll help them through whatever steps that are there that are needed in the immediate time frame.
And then we have clinical staff that will go and draw blood for labs and then send them off for different things like infectious disease testing and also for matching. And that'll take some time, you know, up, up into about eight to 12 hours before any of that is even done. And then we, you know, that's not done at the hospital. So it takes some time.
And then the process of doing two things. One, all of the diagnostics. So in other words, what I mean by diagnostics, all of the tests that are done on each of the organs, like an echo and ultrasound of the heart, CAT scans, EKGs, labs, sometimes we have the trend labs, you know, multiple lab sets. And then at the same time, simultaneously, we have staff that that works on placing each organ that's suitable to the best candidate, to the most appropriate candidate according to the list.
So that all takes a lot of time. And then there's the coordination of getting multiple teams in at the same time to the same place, having their patients ready on that end. So when you step it all out, ultimately it's roughly anywhere from a full 24 hours up to roughly 48 to 72 hours. And then the other piece of that is we have to also work within the confines of the hospital so that we're not too disruptive for them as well.
So when we do bring, bring transport patients here, it does allow us a little bit more liberty to be able to plan ORs or the recovery actually sooner. And when you say here? It was here as in Covington, I'm sorry, we're here in our Covington office in Covington, Louisiana. And so that allows us, obviously, there's no disruption of the processes at the hospital.
So we can plan something more on a timely manner. It'll cut a few hours off. But in general, it's anywhere between one and three days, you know, for everything to take place. Now, the recovery of tissues and eyes is also something to think about.
And whether organ is in play or not, whether someone is a candidate for organ donation or not, tissue and eyes is oftentimes one thing that's an option for that donor and that family. And that usually takes an additional three hours or so for the recovery of the tissue. And then the eyes, it's a very short timeframe for the corny. It's an amazing process.
So many people working in coordination to make life happen. Right. So many people, so many moving parts. Like I've said before, there's over 100 people take part in any one donation at a time.
All right, good stuff. Thanks for sharing and for enlightening us. Maybe you have a question. Give us a call here at the Gift of Life podcast.
That number is 504-648-3477. In every episode of the Gift of Life, we honor a hero. Today's hero, Reina Hunter. And we hear about Reina from her family.
Although my sweet baby girl wasn't here very long, she was able to save a life. She has missed and loved so much. I hope to one day hear from the recipient's family. It's such a beautiful picture of Reina on our heroes page.
And if you'd like to see more about Reina and hear about her, you can find her on our heroes page at lopa.org slash heroes. And now we pause and say thank you to Reina for the gift of life. Episode 239 of the gift of life in the books. Thanks for listening guys.
And remember you can register as an organ tissue and eye donor anytime, registerme.org. Very special thanks to Mark Fynridge for coming on. Of course, he's been on all over the airway, all over TV. And first to come on to the podcast and talk about his experience.
The fact that he's had four transplants. It's quite amazing and all from family. That's a family that loves each other. And then he said, you know, I'm in this unique position and I want to use it to provide hope to others.
And you got to love that. We always say one person making the difference and Mark's out there talking to talk and walk in the walk. So you can listen to Mark here. Tell your friends the best place to find us guys is at our website, thegiftedlife.org.
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