Daughter’s kidney gave him ten more years of hearing ‘Papaw’

It’s been 10 years since Ernie Smith received a life-saving organ from his daughter. Now, he’s reflecting on all the milestones during the past decade.

By TJ Banes, IU Health Senior Journalist, tfender1@iuhealth.org

The photography studio in the back of Ernie Smith’s home in Ingalls, Ind. gives a nod to a new life. Ten years earlier, Smith was uncertain of his future. He was on dialysis; his kidneys were failing.

Now, Smith is looking forward to his retirement years, practicing a new craft, photography. He’s also converted his dining room into a workshop for laser engraving and sublimation. His newfound crafts have resulted in beautiful handiwork – leather products, tumblers, and many, many photographs.

Among those photos are annual Christmas Eve family portraits. Those photos alone, represent some of Smith’s greatest treasures. The divorced father of two, is the grandfather to 12 and great-grandfather to three.

“Seeing my kids, hugging them, and telling them, ‘I love you,’ and seeing my grandkids growing into young adults means everything,” said Smith. “Being a ‘Papaw’ and a ‘Great Papaw’ is the greatest thing in my life.”

Smith has spent most of his career in heavy equipment construction. Over the years, he began experiencing arthritic pain. As the dosage for his medication, increased, his kidney function began to decrease.

He was on dialysis for over a year. He became a patient of IU Health when he learned that he needed a transplant. His son was tested as a living donor, and learned he had kidney stones. So, his daughter, Casey Snoddy, began testing.

“My son was heartbroken that he couldn’t be a donor. I said then, ‘it was an omen. My kids are not meant to be my donors.’ I didn’t want them to go through that,” said Smith.

At IU Health, living kidney and liver donors are an option for patients in need of a transplant. Living donors aren’t necessarily related to the recipient. Compatibility is based on several factors. Each prospective donor invests time for initial screenings, multiple tests and evaluations. They work with a team of IU Health transplant experts that include surgeons, donor coordinators, social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, and financial coordinators.

“It wasn’t a decision. He needed a kidney. He fought back a little bit, not wanting one of his kids to be a donor, but in the end, we won,” said Snoddy, the mother of three.

When she made the decision and was tested as a match, Snoddy, 41, said, “I knew what was ahead for us. I knew he didn’t have a genetic component coming into play, so I wasn’t concerned that my children were at risk.” Snoddy works as a senior clinical research manager in clinical genetics, at the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics, Indiana University School of Medicine.

On May 15, 2015, Snoddy was in one operating room at IU Health University Hospital, in the hands of Dr. John Powelson. Her dad was in a nearby operating room in the care of Dr. William Goggins.

It was Snoddy’s first hospitalization other than a tonsillectomy, and the birth of her three children. “I have to say, to be part of a transplant in the same hospital where I am part of clinical research, was like coming full circle,” said Snoddy. “I would tell others thinking of becoming a living donor, to look at me now. I’m healthy, and missing one kidney means I get to keep my dad and keep the kids’ papaw.” She laughs that ten years later, she can’t even remember which side of her torso bears the scar of her surgery.

Shortly, after the procedure, Smith was visiting his daughter in her room. He now returns to IU Health for annual visits with Dr. Muhammad Yaqub.

And as he celebrates retirement this month, Smith said he’s looking forward to traveling to visit family, the people he said, “get on my heart and I can’t let them go.” He wants to take more photos – senior pictures of his grandchildren and watch them graduate. He wants to hold great grandbabies and bake birthday cakes for those who call him “Papaw” and “Great Papaw.”

And some days, Smith just wants to walk through the woods, sit quietly and wait to capture a shot of a squirrel popping its head from behind a log. “It’s the little things that mean everything to me.”