BUFFALO, N.Y. (Monday, March 29, 2004) - Linda Krause has spent her entire life battling kidney disease. Despite having medullary sponge kidney disease and renal tubular acidosis, she still managed to raise four children and work as a registered nurse at Kaleida's Deaconess Health Center.

One of her children, Mary Griffin, followed her footsteps into healthcare, becoming a paramedic, volunteer firefighter and phlebotomist. But little did mother or daughter know that the answer to Mrs. Krause's health problems might be solved in the family and within the workplace.

"My career has always been about helping other people," said Ms. Griffin, 26, of Hamburg. Ms. Griffin works full-time as a phlebotomist for Quest Diagnostics, and part-time as a paramedic with Rural/Metro Ambulance. She also volunteers her time with the Scranton Fire Company.

She added, "The way I look at it, my mother gave me the gift of life when I was born, so this was the least I can do. She has been sick for most of my life, so being able to help her is very rewarding."

What Ms. Griffin did is donate one of her kidneys to try and save her mother's life. Mrs. Krause had been in kidney failure for the past six months and had seen her kidney function fall from 26% to 12%.

Medullary sponge kidney disease is the deformity of the kidneys with cauliflower like cysts. Renal tubular acidosis (commonly known as RTA disease) involves excessive calcium rather than tissue making up the kidneys. Combined, the two have had a slow but harmful affect on Mrs. Krause's health.

The transplant, which took place Thursday (March 26, 2004) at Kaleida's Buffalo General Hospital (a sister facility to the Deaconess Center, where Mrs. Krause works), entailed taking one of Ms. Griffin's kidneys and placing it into her mother's abdomen with a bypass to the bladder.

Both of Mrs. Krause's degenerating kidneys will now be naturally weaned from her body and will shrink to the size of a small stone. Once this process happens, the good kidney will take their place.

"I want to thank all of the doctors, nurses and aides who assisted me through this operation," said Mrs. Krause. "The care I received was great. I also want to thank my daughter for making this happen. She is my true hero."

Mrs. Krause had dealt with her illness throughout her entire life. Born with acidosis and diagnosed at age 19 with sponge kidney, she was unaware of this type of transplant procedure until her future son-in-law, Dave McKnight, came into her life.

McKnight, Ms. Griffin's fiancée, is a Registered Nurse and organ coordinator with Upstate New York Transplant Services. He was aware of transplant procedures being offered at Buffalo General through Dr. Mark R. Laftavi, Dr. Rabie N. Stephan and Dr. Fadi Y. Dagher for those affected by severe kidney diseases. McKnight was the one who encouraged the mother-daughter team to get tested for a possible match.

"I think this is very important for people to know," said Dr. Laftavi. "If someone has a concern regarding transplants, I think this shows that it can be a safe procedure and truly save someone's life. It's a nice story that shows the good part of our society."

Ironically, Mrs. Krause's other daughter, Alexandria Dix, has the same condition as her mother. Diagnosed at age 13 months by physicians at Kaleida's Women and Children's Hospital, her illnesses are an oddity, as it is rare for mother/daughter to share these diseases. Apparently, they are supposed to skip a generation. Despite this, Alexandria, now 19, will never have as severe health problems as her mother did, because she has been actively treated for the past six years.

The Buffalo General Hospital performs close to 100 kidney transplants per year.