With time running out, Renton resident Emmett Smith and his wife Esther knew they had to get creative in their search to replace one of Emmett’s kidneys and they found their answer in a self-funded, call-to-action bus ad campaign.
Two years ago, Smith found himself in a dire situation. He had been feeling really sick for about six months and when he finally wound up in the hospital, he was given emergency dialysis and diagnosed with IgA nephropathy, a chronic kidney disease.
“And then after about a two-week stay in the hospital, they basically told me that my kidneys weren’t functioning at all and that I was going to need a kidney transplant,” said the 27-year-old.
For the past two years, Smith has been on dialysis three times a week, waiting for a kidney. It’s a wait that could take up to five years because that’s the wait list time for a new kidney.
Smith and his wife Esther called upon friends and family and used social media to find potential donors, but haven’t had any luck. Then Esther got some encouragement and inspiration from a Northwest Kidney Center class. The class urged patients and their families to be creative and not to be ashamed of asking the public for a kidney.
“I was trying to find a way to reach the most amount of people and I was trying to be creative in doing that and a bus ad just popped into my mind,” said Esther.
So she called up Metro and was eventually put in touch with advertising firm Titan Seattle. The request was a first for the company, but it was not out of line with its corporate ethics policies, a release said. With the help of an anonymous donor, the Smiths were able to purchase bus ads for five buses and Titan Cares, the charitable arm of Titan Seattle, donated 15 additional buses with ads.
Soon, the “My-daddy-needs-a-kidney”-campaign emerged, with 9-month-old daughter Arianna, pictured in Smith’s arms.
“Emmett’s campaign was especially moving for us, so we wanted to amplify the voice of the family and encourage the Seattle community to step up to help,” said Pamela Quadros, vice president and general manager of Titan Seattle.
The bus ads are now running throughout Seattle and the Eastside.
“Ever since we started the bus ad campaign, there have been a lot of news stories that have been popping up out of that,” said Emmett Smith.
The Smiths have received attention to Emmett’s need from local and national television stations and a local radio show. The publicity has generated lots of contacts seeking more information about how to donate.
“For all that, so far we’ve just had email on top of email and Esther’s trying to respond to all these people,” said Smith. “It’s almost hard for her to respond as quickly as they’re coming in.”
Not only have they received interest from those who would like to donate, but they’ve also received words of encouragement from others who’ve been through similar ordeals. Esther Smith calls the outpouring of support “touching” and Emmett said he feels, “really good” about the effort.
“I mean, just the fact that people want to help still, it restores your faith in humanity, you know,” he said. “There’s a lot of good people out there, so it makes you feel really good.”
The advertisement features the Smiths’ website address, Donate4Emmett.org as well as an informational hotline phone number for people interested in testing for donation.
The UW Medicine’s Transplant Services operates the service that screens potential donors for a variety of health factors, including blood type match. Smith is type “O” blood type, which is also the longest wait time for a cadaver kidney transplant.
But, according to Northwest Kidney Centers, where he goes for dialysis, the greater Seattle area is a good place for people needing kidney transplants.
“In 2014, Northwest Kidney Centers saw a 14 percent increase in the number of its patients receiving kidney transplants, while the number of transplants nationwide decreased by 16 percent,” reports Linda Sellers, spokesperson for the center.
She said it is hard to speculate why, but cited three “excellent” transplant centers in the area, the volume of clients the center handles and the fact that Northwest Kidney Centers actively promotes transplants for their patients and then aides them with getting on wait lists as reasons for the high percentage.
The evaluation to see if donors are a potential match could take up to several months.The Smiths don’t know if anyone is in the testing process for the donation and won’t know if they have a donor until the surgery is scheduled. The donor and the recipient are kept completely separate.
“This isn’t just a fight for me, there’s 80,000 other people out there waiting for a kidney,” said Emmett. “If you know one of them or someone else out there knows a person, who needs an organ donated and they have the power to donate that organ, they should do it.”
If interested in donating, call 206-598-3627 for more information.
