Longtime friendship sealed with a kidney
By PAT FRIDGEN Echo Pilot

Best friends Penny Bemisderfer and Pat Peer now share a kidney.

Best friends don't let friends drive…

That advertising phrase doesn't speak for the situation of Greencastle natives Penny Bemisderfer and Pat Peer, but it does address the concern one true friend has for another, which can make the difference between life and death.

And that concern led Peer to donate a kidney to Bemisderfer January 31.

Bemisderfer, 41, hails from a family with a history of kidney problems. Her brother Timothy received a kidney from his wife Amy in 2005. Her mother Doris underwent a cadaver transplant seven years ago. Her grandmother was on dialysis for years.

Aware that she had polycystic kidney disease, Bemisderfer nevertheless tried to ignore it.

"I've known for a long time," she said. "I didn't want to face it. I was running from it."

Though she has a degree in Healthcare Administration from Columbia Union College, and a master's in Business from Johns Hopkins and worked for a physician, Bemisderfer stalled.

When she was tired of feeling sick every day she had a coworker check her blood. She asked the friend not to let the doctor see the results.

He did, and wanted Bemisderfer in the hospital 'yesterday.'

Her blood pressure and creatine levels were high. She eventually found medication she could tolerate.

"My pressure stayed normal but the kidneys weren't cleaning my blood well, so I vomited a lot."

She began dialysis three times a week in February 2006 but developed MRSA, a staff infection. She transferred to the practice of Drs. William Johnson and Branislav Rominic in Frederick and underwent dialysis through a femoral artery twice a week.

"They pushed me for a transplant from the start because I was so young. I was iffy," she said. She knew she had few family options for a donor.

Enter Peer.

He and Bemisderfer had been best friends since high school.

"I used to ride motorcycles with her brothers," said Peer, 39.

They laughed about the times they hung out at what is now an industrial park. The police left all the teenagers alone as long as they cleaned up their trash.

His decision was easy.

"To see how she was, and the way she used to be, how could I not try to help? I practically beat her on the head to consider it."

"Pat gave me a kidney because he couldn't stand to see his best friend cry all the time," added Bemisderfer.

The process

Peer went through two months of testing, physically and psychologically, before being approved.

"They were so good, so organized," he said of the staff at the University of Maryland. "I was scheduled from one lab to the next. If I had sneezed, I would have been late. And as a donor, they treat you like a king."

Up until the last minute, Peer had the chance to renege. He didn't.

"It hit home when they called and said, 'January 31, 6 a.m.' I thought, ok, here we go."

The doctors first removed both of Bemisderfer's kidneys, which is not a common practice. Peer was in surgery for five hours, and estimates his left kidney was out of his body and into Bemisderfer's in three minutes. It worked instantly.

He was released three days later. Bemisderfer was in surgery all day and hospitalized for one and a half weeks, due to her blood pressure and other issues.

Peer credits his quick recovery to support from his girlfriend Billie Yohn. Bemisderfer credits her boyfriend Curtis Reed.

Peer did have repair surgery after popping his stitches. He was cleared to return to his job at Target Distribution Center in Chambersburg at the end of April. He is no longer under medical care, but self-prescribed "Genuine Drafts every once in a while."

Bemisderfer takes up to 50 pills a day for anti-rejection purposes and for her heart. She hopes to get back to work soon.

And the bond that kept these two friends for so many years just got tighter.