Thank you, Arizona Women's Board

Erma Bombeck and other members of the Arizona Women's Board

The Arizona Women's Board has generously supported the kidney transplant program at St. Joseph's Norton Institute since 2018. The organization's support totals $250,000 over the past five years, including the most recent grant of $50,000 to support kidney transplant care.

In the past, AWB has helped fund the addition of an outreach coordinator for the Norton program, a role that leads to increasing patient referrals, more kidney transplants and a higher number of living organ donations, all of which are critical to expanding the kidney transplant program and successfully treating the growing population of patients suffering end-stage renal disease.

In past years, the Arizona Women's Board has supported the addition of a dietician to the kidney transplant team and helped to expand the Norton's living kidney donation program. Diet plays an important role in maintaining the health of patients before and after transplantation. The living kidney donation program aims to bridge the gap between the huge need for kidneys and the dearth of available organs. For patients in urgent need of a transplant, a living donation offers them a healthy organ in the shortest available time. In addition, patients receiving a live kidney donation tend to have healthier outcomes and better quality of life. Furthermore, if a patient has a family member or friend willing to donate a healthy kidney, but that kidney is determined not the be a correct "match" for the patient, they can participate in a donor-matching program through which their donor's healthy kidney can be swapped with another donor/patient deemed to be a good match.

Katie is alive, thanks to an amazing act of humankindness and a kidney donation

Katie Grannan and her kidney donor, Amy Sperry.

Katie Grannan was an energetic 10-year-old when a sports physical detected a rare autoimmune disease was destroying her kidneys. By the time she was a senior at Northern Arizona University, she could barely leave her bed—no longer able to keep up her busy school schedule, work and exercise classes.

In July 2014, Katie’s doctor told her she would need dialysis or a kidney transplant to survive. Her parents were devastated to learn they weren’t a match for organ donation.

“Katie was going downhill fast,” says her mother, Janelle. “We were racing against the clock. It was the scariest time of my life.”

Desperate to save her only child, Janelle posted a plea on Facebook. She was surprised to receive several responses in a short time, including one from family acquaintance and former neighbor Amy Sperry, who tested positive as a donor match.

Just before the holidays in 2015, Amy donated a kidney to Katie, giving lifesaving function to the two poorly functioning kidneys that remain in Katie’s body.

“Amy is our angel,” says Janelle. “Because of Amy, I have my daughter back.”

Photo: Katie Grannan (left) will also be bonded with her kidney donor, Amy Sperry (right)

The roots of Arizona Women's Board

Erma Bombeck, a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist and author, best-known for her self-deprecating housewife humor, suffered kidney disease and underwent a kidney transplant in her later years. Prior to passing away from complications, she organized the country's first Authors Luncheon in 1980, inviting her fellow writers to showcase their work and help raise money to support Arizonans with kidney disease.

The Authors Luncheon was an immediate success and quickly became an annual event, organized by a group of Erma's friends who later became known as Arizona Women's Board, a group that remains dedicated to continuing Erma’s tradition of bringing bestselling authors together to help write a brighter future for Arizona kidney patients.

The Friends of Erma Bombeck Authors Luncheon has raised more than $10 million for programs that directly benefit Arizona’s kidney patients and their families. The board provides grants to organizations committed to the prevention of kidney disease through awareness, education and research, and to the improvement of the quality of life for Arizonans with kidney disease.

St. Joseph's is proud to partner with the Arizona Women's Board to fulfill a like-minded mission of serving patients through compassionate quality care. St. Joseph's kidney transplant program, housed within Norton Institute, completed its first transplant in 2014. The program recently turned the corner on its 100th kidney transplant, a milestone that would not be possible without the generosity of the Arizona Women's Board and donors within the community!