Lisa Garner, who is battling kidney failure, hasn’t physically attended every Conway Noon Rotary Club event, but members have felt her unwavering encouragement.
That’s why she was the unanimous choice for 2018-19 Rotarian of the Year, said Ed Linck, immediate past president.
“She’s been very encouraging the entire way; she goes well above and beyond what any volunteer would find necessary to do,” Linck said.
Garner was the club’s president when Linck joined in 2016, and she immediately honed in on him to run for president. He said no twice; the third time she asked, “I said, ‘Fine, I’ll do it,’” Linck recalled, laughing.
Garner, 51 , said she feels unworthy of the recent honor.
“I was shocked, and there’s something about being named Rotarian of the Year that just touches your heart because you feel you’re not worthy. You do it because you’re supposed to — just Service Above Self,” she said, quoting the club’s motto.
Her emotional acceptance was videoed and posted on Facebook.
“Battling kidney failure since October 2018, … I want to say without a doubt that the Conway Noon Rotary Club has been with me every step of the way! You, as a group, are a true example of Service Above Self,” she wrote.
The married mother of three underwent her first kidney transplant 12 years ago, and life was good. She was a busy real estate agent in North Little Rock at the time.
She has Alport syndrome, a genetic condition that causes kidney disease and other health problems, including deafness. She is deaf in one ear. The progressive loss of kidney function usually affects men, Garner said.
“I’m the lucky one,” she said, laughing.
Garner knew she’d eventually need a kidney transplant. Her high-school-sweetheart-now-husband, David, was all set to donate his kidney. It had been a match through every test. The day before the transplant surgery, tests showed his kidney wasn’t a match.
They were both devastated, she said.
“We chalked it up to it wasn’t meant to be,” Garner said, and they considered that one of their three children might need his kidney someday.
When a homebuilder’s wife, Celeste Knight of Little Rock, heard of Garner’s need, Knight asked to be tested. It was a long shot.
“She came back a perfect match. She was a godsend, absolutely,” Garner said.
Garner is also passionate about her work to pass the Living Donor Protection Act of 2019. U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., are sponsoring the bill in Congress.
“The way FMLA (the Family Medical Leave Act) is written right now, it’s not going to protect somebody for going to give a kidney. They can’t guarantee your job,” Garner said.
She went to Capitol Hill to meet with Cotton, and she said work is underway to “put it into FMLA that someone can give a kidney and be protected. You would think that would be a no-brainer. Most people just feel like it’s a given, and it’s so not.”
Garner and her family moved from North Little Rock to Conway shortly before her kidney transplant. When she was feeling more like herself again, she wanted to get involved in the community. She joined the Conway Noon Rotary Club after being invited by Chris Thornton, also a Realtor.
Garner laughed when she recalled their initial discussion. Thornton asked her to join Rotary, and she said, “I am not Rotary material.” She said Thornton looked her straight in the eyes and firmly said, “Oh, yes, you are Rotary material.”
She was an active member and served as president in 2016. She was named a Paul Harris Fellow for District 6170 on June 22 at a conference in Hot Springs, but she was too sick to attend.
Garner also served as an assistant district governor, as well as district trainer.
“I didn’t get to do as much as I hoped,” she said.
Although Garner said she enjoys all the Rotary Club projects, she has her favorites.
“Our annual Toad Suck Pancake Breakfast has always been an honor to be part of. That’s something we raise money for and give back to youth for scholarships at [the University of Central Arkansas, Central Baptist College] and Hendrix. That’s near and dear to my heart. I went and graduated just a few years ago from Arkansas Tech.
Her life slowed down in October 2018, when she started feeling sick. She fainted at the Conway Business Expo.
“That was the first trigger,” she said. “I knew something was just not right.”
The following Monday, she went to the emergency room. She was expecting to get some antibiotics and be sent home. The news was much more serious.
Garner said she remembers that the doctor’s eyes “got real big.”
“She looked at me and said, ‘Lisa, you’re in kidney failure.’ I went straight to UAMS and was there for 3 1/2 weeks,” Garner said.
Her kidney transplant was supposed to last from 12 to 30 years, and she got 12 years.
“A transplant’s not a cure; it’s a treatment,” Garner said.
Dialysis is exhausting and expensive, she said.
This time, she is on the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences list for a cadaver kidney, although a living donor would be accepted. Garner said she is near the top of the list. … She’s been called at least five times, but then the kidneys haven’t been viable.
The Conway Noon Rotary Club has held fundraisers to help defray her costs, Linck said.
“Once we understood the seriousness of the situation and that she had some needs, … our club did a meal train. We did a couple of fundraisers to help out financially, which they were very grateful for,” he said.
Garner said that although she can’t physically attend the Rotary Club events right now, she is still a supporter.
“I’m probably most people’s biggest cheerleader. The service above self really spoke out to me,” she said.
For example, Garner said she called Aimee Prince, the club’s new president, a few weeks ago.
“I said, ‘You can do this; you’re not alone. I just don’t want you stressing. You have a team behind you. You have a board behind you. We’re going to be there with you all the way to help you,’” Garner said.
Linck said that despite her serious illness, Garner “is still very positive and has lots of hope. She says, ‘I can’t wait to be the old Lisa again. I miss you guys.’ She wants to get right back in. We’re like, ‘We’ll be here when you get back. Just take care of yourself.’ She’s fighting for her life, really.”
Garner said she answers every phone call, hoping it will be the hospital saying it has a kidney for her. It’s a different situation than when she received a kidney 12 years ago.
“In 1996, … we didn’t have cellphones. You were tied to the phone all the time. You had to be home, or you didn’t get that call. It was very stressful, feeling like you had to be home just waiting on that phone call.”
Today, she takes her cellphone everywhere, and she praised her husband for handling more than his share of household responsibilities because of her illness.
“My poor husband. There’s something to be said for caregivers,” she said. “I asked him, ‘How do you do it?’”
Garner fights not only for her life, but for others’ lives.
“For myself and for Rotary and the kidney community in general, I want to help bring education and awareness of kidney disease and that it is not a death sentence. I want people to be aware of living donation,” she said.
“When I see somebody and they’re tired, that’s one of the things they don’t test for, creatinine, and that’s your kidney function. That’s not on a normal screen, to check creatinine, and people are like, ‘My kidneys are acting up.’ I feel like that creatinine screen should be on the normal blood work. … People have it who have no other issues. Your kidneys do so much; they filter out everything, control your blood pressure.”
She said more information is available on the American Association of Kidney Patients website, aakp.org.
“UAMS has a wonderful website,” she said. Information and guidelines are available on living-donor transplants.
“It’s basically a simple blood test. If you are a match, they do simple things — a chest X-ray, EKG, nothing invasive [at first],” she said.
“If we could help one person feel like themselves again and have their lives back and have their family and their children, it’s worth it,” Garner said. “That’s why I go fight on Capitol Hill … because I feel like I’m making a difference.
“I love giving back.”
And the Conway Noon Rotary Club knows that well.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.