Nurse who needs kidney promotes organ donations

Jeanne Sisneros has a simple message and she's taking it to the streets. "Recycle yourself," her license plate frame says. "Be an organ donor." Sisneros, 48, also has a personalized plate that reads "INDKDW (I need a kidney). Although people often think it is a scrambled Donna Karan or DKNY reference, she says it still serves its purpose - to start people talking about organ donation. A registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Anaheim Hills, Sisneros suffers from focal segmental glomerular sclerosis, a rare kidney disease. There is no history of this disease in her family, she said. Although she had had kidney problems for 11 years, Sisneros was shocked to find out that the severe leg cramps that sent her to an urgent care clinic one night in 1998 were a sign of renal failure. Now, in addition to working full time at the hospital, Sisneros goes to dialysis three times a week. "I can see how sick they can be," she said. "I wonder if that will be me some day." In the meantime, she does what she can to show them that dialysis is a beginning and not the end of life, as they've known it. "They can see that I'm living a full and productive life," she said. "It gives them hope." Sisneros decided to go public with her journey from kidney failure to transplantation in order to promote National Donate Life Month. "I always hoped someone would offer (a kidney) to me, or I would just jump to the top of the list. But, it isn't that easy," she said. Although the- class has adopted the 1,(300 members of 173rd Airborne Brigade, their help is not limited only to that unit. "We've also prepared packages for other students who came into our classroom to ask if we could send packages to people they know," McMillan said. McMillan's classroom now looks like a mini-market. Boxes of crackers, cookies, hard-candy and other items her students have chosen for the troops are piled up in the corner. "The items they've chosen seem more like items they would like for themselves," McMillan said, but that is also part of the project. McMillan has also made sure to make the project part of her regular lesson plan by including mobility exercises, history and English lessons and other topics. "When we purchased the items, we took a bus ride to the local market," McMillan said. "Our next trip will be to the post office." Although some of her students did enjoy the trip to the market, students like Amanda Bradan enjoy the academic part of the project as well. "I like writing to the troops because we get to know them and they get to know us," Bradan said. McMillan also has included research assignments requiring her students to go online and research the origins of the 173rd Airborne Brigade. "The students thought that if the troops ran out of toilet paper, they could use newspaper instead," McMillan said. "It didn't occur to them that there are no newspapers in the middle of the desert." The small care packages are sent every other day because the troops are limited to 13 ounces, which is deemed an appropriate weight that can fit in a backpack. Larger packages are sent every two weeks. Rhonda Buchanan, an in structionalaide who is also involved in the project, said the support from the community has been incredible. Recently, her dentist donated dental floss, toothbrushes and toothpaste. McMillan's family podiatrist has donated foot powder and ointment for calluses and blisters. Although the items they have stocked are enough to last through the school year, monetary support is still lacking. Currently McMillan and Buchanan pay postage for the items they send overseas. The students, who have needs of their own, are very proud of their efforts. "I guess I'm doing this to return the favor because it takes a lot of courage to do what they (the troops) do," said Tony Daeschner, 13.