The feeling of fatigue was like nothing she had ever felt before.
Starla Simpson was a bundle of energy. The 27-year-old southside Indianapolis resident worked multiple jobs, had an active fitness regimen and cared for her 7-year-old son. But since she was diagnosed with kidney failure in 2017, and started dialysis three times each week, she often has to nap in during the day just to be able to function.
But she refuses to feel sorry for herself.
"Maybe this is something God wants to impact my life with so I can help spread awareness to other people. When you’re going through a tough time, it’s so easy to let yourself get down in a hole. But sometimes you just have to pull yourself up back out of it," she said.
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Simpson is in need of a kidney transplant as her kidneys slowly deteriorate. Faced with a wait of five years for a deceased donor kidney, she is searching for a living donor to match with.
The Indiana Blood Center and Ashley Furniture HomeStore in Greenwood are partnering to host a blood drive in Simpson’s honor today and Sunday.
"You come across someone like Starla who is so energetic and wants to give back, despite the fact that she is so sick, that she’s so young. That embraces everything that we do," said Nicole Brosseau, account representative for the Indiana Blood Center. "This lets her get her message out there, that she needs a kidney, but also that she’ll need blood when she does get a kidney transplant."
While the event could help find a match, Simpson mostly wants to be able to help as many other people as possible at the same time.
"I know there’s a lot of people out there who can’t get a transplant because of different issues. I want to help them out. I want to make them feel better," she said. "I don’t want anybody to have to feel this way."
Simpson discovered her kidneys were failing two years ago. She noticed blood was in her urine late at night, and then again saw it the next day. At Franciscan Health Indianapolis, she was initially told that she likely had a kidney stone; that was what caused the stone.
When the doctor drew blood and a urine sample, she was told that she had kidney failure. The organs were 30 to 40 percent damaged, but the cause of the failure couldn’t be pinpointed.
"I was exercising, eating healthier, going to the gym — the normal things they say to do to be healthy," she said. "I took multivitamins and was drinking natural energy drinks to try to be healthier. They don’t know if my maybe taking too many supplements and minerals caused it, or if I had an infection that had damaged it. They don’t know."
For a healthy 27-year-old, the diagnosis was stunning. Simpson was crushed, though the devastation was brief.
"When the doctor told me, I cried for about a minute. Then I started laughing," she said. "My sister-in-law was with me, and she said that it was OK for me to cry. But I knew I was going to be all right. My kidneys would get better."
Over the next year, the health of Simpson’s kidneys fluctuated. Constant checkups by her doctors found that some days the organs worked better, other times seemed to be lagging. She called them her "camels," because the tracking of the function resembled a camel’s hump.
But by the spring of 2018, her kidneys were doing worse and worse.
"I just felt terrible. Always fatigued, tired. It really started affecting work, where I’d either be late or had to call in. I love working, I’m a hard worker. This wasn’t what I was used to," she said.
Simpson started on dialysis in April. Three times each week, she goes to the clinic to have her blood effectively cycled out, cleaned of toxins and injected back into her body over the course of four hours.
The process leaves her exhausted.
"As soon as I get home, I try to eat something, usually something high in protein. Then I take a nap until my son gets home," she said. "It completely wipes me out, really thirsty. Like the worst dehydration you’ve ever had."
Because dialysis is so taxing on the body, Simpson’s doctors have her on a strict diet low in sodium, carbohydrates, potassium and other chemicals that can make her feel worse.
Doctors fused an artery and vein in her arm together in order to create an access point for the dialysis. The delicate procedure means that she can’t do the strenuous exercise that she had been used to.
"I come in and try to be bubbly and happy. Yeah, sometimes I cry and am overwhelmed because you can only be so strong before you crack. Then I look at it again and ask, ‘What is God teaching me?" she said.
When Simpson first learned she had kidney failure, doctors gave her a thorough checkup analyzing all of her other organ functions. The goal was to determine if she was healthy enough to be put on the organ transplant list.
She was, but there was a snag. Her blood type is O positive, which means she can only receive a kidney from someone else with O blood. Her kidney specialist told her it would be a minimum of five years on the transplant list to find a donor with her blood type.
The search then focused on a living donor. Family members and friends have been tested, but no one so far is a possible match. The effort then spread wider to social media.
"At first, I was nervous and scared to ask somebody. But then, I decided I should make Facebook post to ask. It got so many shares. It was overwhelming. It was so nice that people wanted to help me," she said.
Friends and other supporters worked with the Indiana Blood Center to put together a blood drive event that could also find a match. The Greenwood location of Ashley Furniture HomeStore offered to host the event. A DJ, food trucks, face painting, balloons and more will be featured to create a carnival atmosphere. All donors will receive 20 percent off a purchase at Ashley Furniture.
"I’ve always believed that if you do good deeds, no matter what, good deeds will come back to you. That’s just kind of how I’ve always been," she said. "If I can help someone else find a match. Obviously, I want a kidney, but there are so many other people who are on the waiting list."
The two-day event is unusual for Indiana Blood Center drives, but organizers feel that the response will be so large that different days are warranted, Brosseau said.
Simpson also wants to use the event to draw attention to the need for all organ donation. Nearly 1,300 Indiana residents and more than 114,000 people nationwide are waiting for organ transplants to save their lives, according to the Indiana Donor Network.
Each day 20 people die because a donated organ wasn’t available in time.
"This blood drive can bring awareness and help people become a donor, they can let their families know that they want to donate their organs," Simpson said.
That ties into the need for blood, Brosseau said. In Indiana, there is a baseline need for at least 550 units a day.
"People who have never donated before, that might not even understand that there is such a dire need every day for the state of Indiana, might be exposed to it that they wouldn’t be before," Brosseau said.
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Blood drive in honor of Starla Simpson
What: An event held in honor of Simpson, a 27-year-old southside resident in need of a kidney transplant. The drive is also intended to raise awareness of the important of organ, tissue and eye donation.
When: 5 to 9 p.m. today and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday
Where: Ashley Furniture HomeStore, 733 Loews Blvd., Greenwood
Who can donate: Anyone age 17 or older in good health who meets eligibility requirements is encouraged to give. Parental consent is required for donors age 16 to donate blood. Donors should bring a photo ID that includes their birth date.
How to make an appointment: Go to Versiti.org to schedule a time. Walk-ins are welcome.
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