Following the Signs

Page 1

Feature Article

Following the Signs An exceedingly generous gift brings three people closer together.

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all it fate, or call it coincidence. Unlikely as it was, an order for IV dressings, an inspiring sermon and a service video led not only to a bond between two unsuspecting sales reps, it also saved a life. For years, Atlanta Dental sales & marketing product manager Mike McGuire watched his wife, Anisa, battle polycystic kidney disease – a life-threatening, hereditary disease that has also afflicted her mother and two siblings. “The cysts grow larger and larger and eventually take over the kidneys,” McGuire explains. The optimal solution is a kidney transplant, which is difficult to make happen under any circumstances. Anisa’s Indian heritage, however, made it even more challenging to find a donor with a matching blood type. She faced a three-to-five year wait, he says. “Anisa began dialysis about a 1 ½ years ago,” says McGuire, noting that dialysis requires the patient to have a temporary port placed in his or her chest – a procedure that can lead to a difficult-to-control infection. “I watched this happen to Anisa’s brother, and I was determined it would not happen to Anisa as well,” he says. So, he placed an order for the IV dressings and some numbing cream through Crosstex. By chance, Crosstex sales rep Marel De Jesus noticed the order and learned of Anisa’s plight. “And so began an incredible chain of events,” he says. “Marel is young and has two young children to consider,” says McGuire. “It’s difficult for [people] to make such a major decision and we were concerned for her.” In addition, she had never met Anisa, he

12 Dental Explorer | Four th Quar ter 2013

Anisa McGuire and Marel De Jesus meet for the first time.

Marel (right) donated her kidney to Anisa (left), who battled polycystic kidney disease.

By Laura Thill


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