Woman takes finding a kidney into her own hands

A woman is attempting to find herself a new kidney after her doctor tells her she has five years left.

There are nearly 100,00 people in the U.S on the National Transplant waiting list. 92,000 of them are waiting for a kidney. That wait averages between three and four years.

Diana Ross is one of those people that needs a kidney.

“My doctors told me you got five years,” Ross said.

Five years before her diseased kidney gives out and five years to find a new kidney, but those five years are not guaranteed.

Dr. Nijal Sheth, a medical director said, “The mortality rate is almost 20% per year. So in five years on an average, that patient is likely to die.”

So now that five years is down to three.

“Two years ago I was diagnosed with needing a stent in my heart and at that time they found out that I had full-blown kidney disease,” Ross said. “Wrecked my life, overnight, terrible prognosis. Just hurt me.”

At one point Ross was a full-time nurse and spent her off hours pursuing her dream of becoming a realtor.

Now saving her own life is her is what she does day and night.

“It’s hard to be on this end. I never knew how hard it is to be a patient,” Ross said.

She knows being a good patient may help her see her grandchildren grow up, graduate high school, go to college, and get married.

Ross said she’s got things to do.

She’s got other things on her bucket list Like kickboxing, traveling to states she’s never visited like Montana, or just taking a ride in a convertible.

“Praying for a donor to come around and give her a kidney. She’s a very deserving patient,” Sheth said.

“I believe in God and I believe in timing and I just don’t believe why my timing hasn’t been as of yet,” Ross said.

Not just anyone can donate a kidney, you must go through a screening process.