Warsaw teenager living with kidney failure is in need of organ donation from living donor

COSHOCTON − Gabe Gingerich is a fairly normal teen. He likes sports, card games, video games and board games. He works two part-time jobs. He enjoys playing with the family dogs, Raven and Bailey.

However, he's also in dire need of a kidney from a living donor or his life will be severely hampered and shortened.

He wants to enter the workforce straight out of high school, but knows his options are limited because of his health. He currently works for the Rise and Shine Market in Warsaw and makes pizzas for the new Mossy's Corner Drive-Thru in New Castle.

Discovery of the illness

The senior at Coshocton Christian School started feeling sick about a year ago. He was living in Kentucky at the time with his mother. A sports physical revealed he had high blood pressure. Curious, Gabe checked his blood pressure himself a couple weeks later at a local Walmart. It was higher than before.

This was followed by chest tightening and heartburn, and sometimes his breathing would be labored.

"My chest would feel so tight to the point where I could barely breath. I described it as if two people were pressing on my chest," he said. "I've done some research. After being through all this, I looked it up and those are all symptoms of your kidneys shutting down."

Gabe went to the emergency room and he was admitted for tests. It was discovered his kidneys were only functioning at 10%.

"I was in shock," Gabe said of the diagnosis. "I remember in health class learning about all the organs of the body and learning about how when you get your (driver's) license you can choose to be an organ donor. I remember thinking about doing that when I learned about it in school. I never thought I would be one of the ones who needed an organ."

Gabe said doctors aren't sure the cause. They know it's not hereditary and could be related to a previous ailment. He was pretty ill just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was not diagnosed with COVID-19. The National Kidney Foundation does report a spike in acute kidney injury for people who had the coronavirus.

He did dialysis for 10 months at home. He now travels three days a week to Columbus for what is known as hemodialysis at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Treatments lasts for four hours. He often gets severe muscle cramps toward the end of treatments.

"Right now, being on dialysis is really hard. Your diet is really restricted. You have to watch your potassium and phosphorous especially," Gabe said. "The diet's really hard and on top of that, I'm on a fluid restriction. Because dialysis removes fluid, so the more fluid it has to remove the harder it is on the body. They're limiting me to one to two liters a day of everything I drink."

Community support

Today Gabe lives with his father and attends Fresno Bible Church. He lived with his father in Coshocton once before and previously attended River View Local Schools.

Gabe is thankful he can live a fairly normal life and that's been made possible by members of the church and Christian school who've helped provide rides to Columbus for treatment, meals for his family and more.

"It honestly means the world to me. It shows me the community I live in actually cares. Everything they've done to support me and my family has meant so much to all of us," he said.

"(Doctors) want to try to get a kidney as soon as possible. The longer the body is on dialysis, it's not the best for it. Yes, it's keeping me alive, but it's hard on the body," Gabe said. "Ultimately, the best thing to do is to get a new kidney.

To learn more about Gabe's need and how to be tested to see if you're a match visit osuwexmedlivingdonor.org. Those with O Negative or O Positive blood have the best chance of being a match. Even with one new kidney, Gabe can live a pretty normal life with medication.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Warsaw teen living with kidney failure hopes to find an organ donor