Waiting patiently for an organ: One father’s search for a kidney donor

Every eight minutes, someone in the United States is added to the wait list for a transplanted organ. Today, Feb. 14, 2025 on National Donor Day we share one man’s story of waiting.

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

Most people would see Filipe Beauduy as a strong, healthy man. Standing 6 feet three inches tall, and weighing 283 pounds, Beauduy once played center (and sometimes forward) on his school basketball team.

A native of Florida, he earned a degree in communications and computer science and now works at an Indianapolis company in accounts receivable.

When he started his job about two months ago, Beauduy said few people saw him as anything but healthy.

“At first no one knew that I was in kidney failure. I didn’t hide it, and I told them that I had to go for doctor appointments, but I tried to do my job,” said Beauduy, 35. He also wanted to live the life of a healthy man.

For Beauduy, that means coming home from work each night, seeing his 2-year-old daughter run into his arms, eating dinner with his wife, and playing games.

Usually after his daughter goes to bed, Beauduy and his wife, Bethany begin the process of hemodialysis. He checks his blood pressure and then Bethany starts the treatment that filters waste and excess fluid from Beauduy’s blood. Bethany completed seven weeks of training to learn to administer dialysis. She has a team of experts on call if she needs someone to trouble shoot. The treatment lasts four hours and is repeated four times a week. It’s a process usually done by properly functioning kidneys.

Beauduy’s kidneys are failing. He’s been on dialysis for nearly two years.

He has some ideas about why his kidneys are failing. When he was eight, Beauduy was diagnosed with Stage 3 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of blood cancer. He was treated with radiology and chemotherapy. Ten years later, he received his first kidney transplant. That transplant lasted 15 years – five years longer than doctors expected.

He now believes the cancer and kidney failure were related to a diagnosis at the age of 13: Alport syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that causes kidney disease, hearing loss, and eye abnormalities. At the age of 24 he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

“I often think if it’s all related,” said Beauduy, who wears hearing aids to accommodate for loss.

Still, he has focused on living his life to the fullest.

He and Bethany met through an online dating site. He was living in Florida; she was living in Spokane, Wash. They were married in 2020 in Bethany’s hometown of New Castle, Ind. They moved back to Spokane for a time and relocated to New Castle in 2021, to be closer to Bethany’s family.

Shortly after they moved to Indiana, Beauduy began seeing doctors at IU Health. He became a patient of Dr Asad Riaz in 2023. He has a been listed for kidney transplant and is working with IU Health transplant coordinator Rebecca Lang.

According to Donate Life Indiana, more than 100,000 men, women and children nationally are waiting at any given moment for a lifesaving organ transplant. More than 1,000 of those waiting are Hoosiers.

At IU Health many recipients receive kidney and liver transplants from living donors. Living kidney donors help give renewed health to people experiencing kidney failure. A living donor can also help reduce or eliminate the need for patients to start dialysis. A healthy kidney from a living donor can function better and last longer than a kidney from a deceased donor.

A living kidney donor isn’t necessarily related to the recipient. Compatibility is based on blood type and tissue typing. Age and size are also taken into consideration.

As Beauduy waits, he and his wife are doing all they can to let others know of his needs. They made a Facebook post that caught the eye of a local newspaper reporter. Since the story was reported, Beauduy said he’s been approached in the grocery store, and people from his church who have expressed interest in being tested as a potential donor. His social media posts have also been supported by dozens of other kidney recipients. Many offering words of encouragement as he waits.

At IU Health, perspective donors go through a screening process that involves 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.

“We’re hoping if there’s not a direct match with him then we can do the swap. A win is a win,” said his wife.

If a healthy donor is incompatible with an intended recipient, the donor may opt to be part of paired donation. Also known as “donor swap” recipient /donor pairs are matched according to compatibility. Over the years, IU Health’s kidney transplant team has performed several paired donations. Some chains have included multiple people.

And since the news broke, Beauduy’s work is more aware of his health.

“Sometimes if dialysis is rough, it will take a toll on me at work, and I may need to take a cat nap. Sometimes I feel a weakness in my bones, or my legs get jittery,” said Beauduy.

“This is my life now,” said Beauduy. His routine begins around 6:30 a.m. when he gets up – sometimes after a short night’s sleep. He leaves for work around 7:15 a.m., returns home around 6 p.m., spends time with his family and sometimes, skips dinner because he knows a full belly can make him nauseous as he begins his dialysis. His dialysis ends around 1 a.m., he gets a little sleep and starts his day all over again.

As he watches his young daughter run around in circles, dance to music, and jump with excitement, Beauduy says, “I just want to live to watch her grow up.

Learn more about living kidney donation at https://iuhealth.org/find-medical-services/living-kidney-donation.