Murray woman saved life of neighbor with organ donation

MURRAY — In December 2009, Julie Reeve's body was shutting down.

Two months later the 45-year-old mother of two was a new woman, thanks to her Cedar Hills neighbor who donated a lifesaving kidney.

Reeve fought diabetes and cancer for years, but even after rounds of chemotherapy, her kidneys were barely functioning.

Family and friends lined up to find out if they could donate, but restrictions narrowed the eligible field. Reeves said she contemplated going door-to-door asking for help.

"I thought there was no way I would get a transplant," she tearfully told an audience at the Intermountain Medical Center Transplant Patient Conference Monday.

But in the end, Reeve had to look no farther than down the street, as her neighbor of 10 years was a perfect match.

Shelly Rose, 45, said she barely had to think about the decision to donate her kidney.

"I just knew I wanted to do it," she said. "I watched Julie and knew her family loved her and she needed it. I was healthy and could do it, so why not?"

In a process that dragged on from July 2009 until January, Rose and Reeve shared the hope and fears that can come with organ donation.

Initially scheduled for November, the transplant surgery had to be delayed until January while Reeve waited to be cancer-free for two years.

While they waited, doctors brought the women surprising news.

Telling Rose she had "very interesting anatomy," doctors said one of her kidneys was about twice the size of a normal kidney, potentially complicating the surgery.

Despite the new information, Rose said she had decided before the meeting that she would go ahead with the transplant. "As long as it was all right in the end, bring it on," she said.

On Jan. 26, the two friends went into surgery and came out sharing more than the same street address.

Ten weeks later, Reeve and Rose say the experience changed both their lives.

"Shelly is a personal miracle from God who came into my life and saved my life," Reeve said. And Reeve's recovery was not the only miracle the women observed.

The larger kidney that complicated the surgery now allows Rose, a mother of five, to live with kidney function better than the average donor.