Beech Tree News Network

Tuesday, March 9, 2021 – Butler County Circuit Court Clerk, Melissa Cardwell, is emphasizing the health of community members by observing March as National Kidney Month. Across the United States, 33 percent of adults are at risk for kidney disease. Every year kidney disease causes more deaths than breast or prostate cancer. Throughout the course of the pandemic, it has been proven that COVID-19 damages the kidneys of otherwise healthy patients. People of color have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, just as the disproportion of developing kidney disease.

In Kentucky, over 700 people are waiting on a life-saving kidney transplant due to chronic kidney failure. Numerous families across the Commonwealth are faced with the harsh realities of waiting on a life-saving organ transplant, families just like Ryan Buffington’s.

Ryan Buffington is a husband and father of two. After experiencing complications due to diabetes, Ryan was listed on the waiting list in March 2014 for a kidney and pancreas transplant. Later that year, he and his family were given a second chance at life by a generous donor.

“Ryan’s transplant has been a new beginning for our entire family. His donor has done for Ryan what doctors could not; he has cured Ryan’s diabetes,” said Bridgit Buffington, Ryan’s wife.

This testimony of kidney disease leading to needing a transplant is all too common. Taking preventative measures to prevent unnecessary complications is necessary.

“One in every three Butler Countians are at risk for kidney disease. High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity increase risk of end state renal disease,” said Cardwell. “We must take care of our kidney health and others’ by registering as an organ donor.”

Join the Kentucky Organ Donor Registry in one of the following ways:

• Online 24/7 at RegisterMe.org
• On your Apple iPhone, go to your Health App and toggle to “organ donor.”
• Driver’s License Renewals: All Circuit Clerks’ offices and all KYTC offices have re-opened, adhering to Governor Beshear’s COVID-19 guidelines and continue to do so.

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The mission of the Kentucky Circuit Court Clerks’ Trust For Life is to inform, educate, and encourage Kentuckians to register as organ and tissue donors to save lives; For more information visit trustforlife.org.