One nurse, one kidney and a dream to inspire others

Cristina Fontana, a breast oncology nurse at the IU Health Joe and Shelly Schwarz Cancer Center, has come full circle in both her career and health, becoming a nurse and a kidney donor.

By Charlotte Stefanski, cstefanski@iuhealth.org, writer for IU Health's Metro Region

When Cristina Fontana was nine years old, her father was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, a form of kidney cancer.

At the time, Fontana and her family lived in Venezuela. She remembers coming to Texas for one of her father’s surgeries.

She thought, “Why can’t I give my dad one of my kidneys?”

Fontana’s father lost his battle with cancer when she was 14, but that question always lingered.

“It just impacted my life in such a way that I knew I wanted to do for someone else what I couldn't do for him,” she says. “That little seed was planted very young.”

Now, decades later, Fontana is a breast oncology nurse at the IU Health Joe and Shelly Schwarz Cancer Center in Carmel. She has come full circle in both her career and health, becoming a nurse and a kidney donor.

From healthcare provider to patient

Fontana began her career in radiation therapy. Then, she earned her nursing degree, working in both radiation oncology and pediatrics.

As she worked with very sick pediatric patients, curiosities about kidney donation still lingered. She began researching and found a kidney can be donated to complete stranger, as long as they’re compatible with the donor.

She began the living kidney donor process with IU Health, and in 2018, Fontana donated one of her kidneys to a complete stranger.

When she went in for her six-month checkup, her care team mentioned there was a transplant coordinator position open.

“I was like, ‘I know nothing about kidney donation. I only know about cancer and pediatrics,’” Fontana recalls. “They said, ‘We can teach you. You have the heart for this. You've been through it. You can teach donors the process, because you've been through it. None of our other nurses can do that.’”

Fontana took the job and served as a living kidney donor transplant coordinator at IU Health University Hospital for four years.

“It’s amazing to be on both sides, as a nurse and patient. When you get to be the patient, it's amazing to see really how good IU Health is, overall, from the care I received from the doctors, from other nurses, and then even being hired,” she says.

Like many healthcare professionals, Fontana found herself struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic. She decided to step away from nursing but knew she would always come back to the field she loved.

In December 2024, the time was right, and she came back to IU Health North.

A role that was meant to be

As a breast oncology nurse at the IU Health Schwarz Cancer Center, Fontana is with patients every step of the way—she educates patients before surgery and cares for them after their procedures.

Her favorite part of her role is patient education. She enjoys knowing she helped give them peace of mind when it comes to their procedures.

Fontana’s father and the care he received is always at the back of her mind, so she treats patients the way she would want to be treated.

“When someone receives the diagnosis that they have cancer, it doesn't just affect the patient. It affects their significant other, their children, their entire family,” she says. “You may have more empathy, because you know what they’re going through.”

Inspiring others, one kidney at a time

As Fontana guides her patients throughout their cancer journeys at IU Health, she also spends time advocating for live kidney donation since donating her kidney seven years ago.

Fontana joined a group called Kidney Donor Athletes (KDA), a group that celebrates and creates a community for living kidney donors.

She notes that many potential donors are worried about their future health after donation, and one of KDA’s main goals is to educate on living an active life post-kidney donation, whether it be regular activities or extreme athleticism.

The group organizes trips for donors to complete athletic feats, and Fontana has participated in several, like climbing to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro and Everest Base Camp.

This fall, Fontana and 14 other kidney donors from all over the United States are hiking the Grand Canyon, rim to rim, in one day.

“When training for and doing these hikes, I think this is nothing compared to the life patients are living on dialysis. This is one day you're summiting. They live that way for years waiting for a kidney,” Fontana explains. “Putting it in perspective for me is I can do this, and I can show people that you can live a normal life.”

Fontana hopes she can inspire at least one person to donate, as there is such a great need, with 90,000 to 100,000 on the transplant list for a kidney.

“I think people don't have the information. They're misinformed. They don't know what to expect,” Fontana says. “Doing these treks, I think it's a way to create that awareness that we can live long, healthy lives with one kidney.”

To learn more about kidney donation at IU Health, visit iuhealth.org/find-medical-services/living-kidney-donation