Cindy Saunders had always been vibrant and active. So when the 47-year-old Marietta, Ga., mom started feeling tired all the time 4 years ago, she figured it was just a natural result of raising three teens, teaching preschool part-time, moving into a larger home and helping care for her ailing mother-in-law, who had come to live with them.

But a checkup uncovered another reason: her kidneys were barely working. “When they told me I had end-stage renal disease, I was blown out of the water,” recalled Cindy in an article that appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The news shocked everyone around her, including her sister Candace Sams, Genentech senior executive assistant in the Public Policy & Federal Government Affairs group, based in Washington, D.C. “The news came up on us all of a sudden. She had been very healthy up to that point,” said Candace.

It seems that when Cindy gave birth to her daughter Liz, 23 years ago, a resulting infection led to a severe kidney inflammation. Large doses of antibiotics seemed to do the trick at the time. She had two more children, Les Jr., 20, and Norrie, 16, and lived a full, active life.

No one knew that the condition was silently and slowly progressing to the point where Cindy had only 25% of her kidney function left.

Following the upsetting diagnosis, Cindy spent several years maintaining a strict diet and trying to live with reduced kidney function. But by the winter of 2001, she got much sicker and was told that a transplant was her only hope.

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Her sister Candace wanted to donate a kidney, but she did not have a matching blood type. Neither did Cindy’s husband, Les. All three of their kids also wanted to be donors, but the doctors weren’t sure if Cindy’s kidney disease was genetic, so they ruled out the children.

With little hope of a living donor and minimal chance of getting a cadaver kidney, Cindy’s health and spirits declined. Her kids, then in college and high school, were devastated. “It was hard for them,” recalled Cindy. “They kept saying, ‘It’s so weird to see Mom lying on the couch in the afternoon when I get home.’”

Indeed, Cindy would start dinner and have to lie down. “I had no energy to stand in the kitchen,” she said. “It is amazing how quickly my body failed.” Within months, barely able to get out of bed, Cindy was put on dialysis.

Neill Blake only knew her fellow parishioner at First Presbyterian Church in Marietta, Ga., as the tall woman in the church choir. When she saw Cindy’s name on the prayer list and heard about her condition, she was shocked.

“She didn’t look sick,” said Neill, 48, in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article. “She always had this huge smile on her face. I didn’t know her life was in chaos.”

Neill quickly decided to do what she could to make that chaos right again. As the daughter of a cardiologist, Neill grew up in a medical world. She saw firsthand the miracle of transplant when her father, suffering from cancer, was helped by a bone marrow transplant. Despite the fact that her husband had just lost his job and she had three sons under 15, Neill’s deep spirituality made the choice clear for her. She decided to offer to donate a kidney to Cindy—and with her O+ blood type, she turned out to be a perfect match.

As the women began to get to know each other, Cindy, at first overwhelmed by the offer, was astounded at how similar they are. They both graduated from Clemson University, order the same food at restaurants and buy the same things when shopping. And of course, they have the same blood type.

“We clicked so well. It was really a miracle,” said Cindy, who received Neill’s kidney during transplant surgery on June 21, 2002. Both recovered quickly and remain extremely close.

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An anti-rejection drug from Genentech called CellCept® (mycophenolate mofetil) is one of several medications Cindy takes.

Her sister’s experience has given Candace an even greater appreciation of her work at Genentech. “I’ve heard numerous stories of how our drugs have helped people, but I became an even stronger advocate when I saw how CellCept benefited Cindy.”*

“I recently saw pictures of myself a year ago, and I was so gray,” said Cindy. “I couldn’t believe the difference. Now I’m pink again!”

Along with her rosy glow, Cindy knows that the wonder of transplant has given her a priceless friendship, one valued just as much by her donor.

“When I look at Cindy, it proves that miracles do happen,” said Neill.

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