By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
After years of living with kidney failure, a matching donor was found for Miranda Douglas. All the necessary testing was done, and it appeared Douglas would finally get a healthy kidney.
But as often happens with health crises, complications get in the way of progress.
For Douglas, first it was new stress-induced seizures which stood in the way of a transplant. Physicians told Douglas, 55, she would need to go six months without a seizure before a transplant could be performed.
Then, the donor and her spouse made the decision to have a child, and not take the chance of donating a kidney.
Douglas accepted the bittersweet news with grace.
“We’re really excited for them,” she said of the prospective donor who had become a friend. Douglas and her spouse, Nancy, understand the desire to have children. They adopted their son after attempts to have a biological child failed.
“I would feel so guilty if they put off their life. I wouldn’t want to take that away from anyone,” Douglas said.
Since being put on the kidney transplant list in 2024, Douglas has struggled with accepting such a precious gift.
“I’ve always felt bad asking for help – asking for a kidney. I don’t know how I could return such a great gift,” she said. “But I know it’s my only way to continue living.”
So Douglas has returned to square one, back on the national transplant list, searching for a new donor. She is undergoing dialysis at home.
“I’m tethered to this machine everyday,” spending up to eight hours a day going between her bedroom and bathroom. “Dialysis takes a lot of life and time. I’m just doing my best.”
When able, Douglas works 12-hour shifts as a nursing assistant at a nursing home facility in Lucas County.
“I love my job,” she said. “I’m a caregiver. I love taking care of people. They are like family to me.”
With the support of family and friends, Douglas is hopeful about finding another donor, and returning to her former life of more caregiving, a return to hiking, and offering more advocacy through a national transgender program.
“I’m staying positive. I’m going to get a kidney. I know I am,” she said. “I’d like to be able to do more with life. I’d be able to help more people.”
Douglas first learned through a routine physical in 2002 that her kidneys had sustained ongoing damage since her birth. She was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease from urinary reflux that allowed urine in the bladder to flow back into the kidneys. Kidney specialists told her the issue likely went undiagnosed at birth.
The condition is normally treated with surgery to reimplant the ureters into the bladder. However, in Douglas’ case, it was too late.
“By that time, my kidneys were already too damaged,” she said.
Tests showed her right kidney had ceased to function at all and her left kidney was functioning at 36%.
But that was enough for Douglas to continue leading a normal life. She worked at UPS. She fell in love and got married. She and her spouse adopted a child.
In 2009, Miranda and Nancy Douglas said their wedding vows and had their son, Steven, baptized in the same ceremony.
“We were formed as a union – the three of us,” Miranda said.
She retired from UPS after 27 years, and worked as a residential assistant at local homes for people with developmental disabilities. She decided to become a state tested nursing aide, and began working in nursing home care.
“I wanted to make sure I was still giving back,” Douglas said, noting her motto in life is, “Give without expectations.”
To support others in the LGBTQ+ community, she was among the founders of BGO Pride, and served as its president.
Life was good.
Then in 2022, Douglas was hospitalized for four days with kidney failure. New tests at Cleveland Clinic showed the left kidney was now functioning at just 19%. And in February of 2024, she got a urinary tract infection and her partially functioning kidney was damaged more.
Last month, Douglas had surgery at Cleveland Clinic to fix a catheter that was causing excruciating pain during dialysis. She found out this week that the repair had failed. But she holds out hope.
Anyone wanting to know more may contact Douglas at mirkatkidneytransplant@gmail.com.
