Lake County Public Servant Needs Kidney Donation

LAKE COUNTY, IL — A longtime Lake County board member is asking for the public's help as she searches for a living kidney donor. A kidney donation could extend her life by decades.

Bonnie Thomson Carter, who spent 20 years on the Lake County Board, was diagnosed with an aggressive rare blood cancer in 2019 and went through six months of chemotherapy, four stem cell harvests and tandem stem cell transplants, according to the Daily Herald. Carter's cancer is currently in remission, but she now is faced with major health issues.

She is on dialysis and needs a new kidney to extend her life. Currently, her life expectancy is three to five years, but a new kidney could extend it by decades.

"I want to live. I want to grow old with my husband Tom; I want to enjoy our children and their families; I want the joy of watching my 10 grandchildren grow; I want to live out the purpose of my life with my family, friends, faith and community sharing joy and laughter with others," Carter wrote on a website she launched to help get the word out about her need for the kidney.

Prior to this past spring, Carter, who also spent eight years on the Lake County Forest Preserve District board, battled her cancer mainly in private but decided to share her story publicly after learning she'd need the organ to survive, the Daily Herald reported.

"Doctors said the only way to get off dialysis and survive is to find a living kidney donor. A new kidney will completely give me the gift of life and will extend my life expectancy by decades. So, I am reaching out to anyone in hopes that someone will be able to give me the gift of life," she wrote on her website.

The 65-year-old Ingleside woman is on a transplant list. But the wait to receive a kidney from a person who has died is typically eight to 10 years, she wrote on her website. And currently, she is inactive on the list until she's been in remission for two years.

"I do not have that long to live," Carter wrote. "Due to this bleak situation, I am reaching out to anyone willing to become a living donor, to donate a kidney and give me the gift of life."

If You Can Help

Carter is asking anyone who can help to reach out directly or contact the Northwestern Medicine Living Kidney Donor Program at 312-695-0828 or www.nmlivingdonor.org.

Those interested in helping can also email her directly via e-mail at bonniec5@comcast.net or phone at 847-309-6176.

More information can be found on her website.