PULASKI TOWNSHIP

Parents naturally give their children many things such as eye color, personality and values but a Pulaski Township father gave his daughter something out of the ordinary -- a kidney.

Randy Dawson said he didn't think twice when doctors confirmed that he was a match for his 16-year-old daughter Erin.

"I wanted to be the donor the first time I heard about it," Dawson said.

The transplant itself was July 1 but Erin's health problems started months before that, Erin's mother, Elaine, said.

Mrs. Dawson said she began to notice her daughter looked pale and was very tired all of the time. She said Erin would sleep about 15 hours a day.

"I enjoy sleep so it didn't bother me," Erin chimed in.

Erin was also dizzy and had stomach pains so her mother took her to the doctor expecting to hear she had mononucleosis or a bleeding ulcer.

Tests showed Erin had a very low blood count but wasn't actually losing blood, Mrs. Dawson said.

That's when doctors discovered Erin's kidneys weren't functioning properly and weren't telling her bone marrow to produce blood, Mrs. Dawson said.

Erin is in an advanced stage of osteoporosis and is small for her age because her kidney disorder stunted her growth, Mrs. Dawson said.

Tests showed Erin's kidneys were also full of hundreds of cysts, Mrs. Dawson said. She said a biopsy was done to make sure the cysts weren't cancerous but during the biopsy Erin lost two pints of blood and ended up with a blood clot in her stomach.

The Dawsons said they learned from doctors at UPMC Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh March 15 that Erin needed a kidney transplant because her kidneys were only functioning at 10 percent.

Erin said she was afraid when she learned she needed the kidney transplant. "I didn't know what to think," she said.

"She was a trooper the whole way," her father added.

"It was like getting kicked in the gut but it was fixable," Mrs. Dawson said of learning Erin needed a transplant. She said many children waiting for transplants never get them in time.

Almost immediately doctors started testing the blood types of family members because family is usually the best possible matches, Mrs. Dawson said.

Both of Erin's brothers, Dan, 24, and Andy, 19, were willing to be donors but her parents were both blood type matches, Mrs. Dawson said.

More extensive testing is conducted for someone who is a blood type match and is being considered as a donor, Mrs. Dawson said. She said she and her husband decided he would be the donor if he was a match, and if he wasn't then she would go through further testing.

Dawson was a match.

Before the surgery Erin said she asked if pictures could be taken during the surgery. The doctors were agreeable and took a disposable camera into the operating room where they took pictures of the surgery from start to finish.

"I thought it'd be really neat," Erin said. "It was kind of sick. I now realize you should not see your own insides."

Though Erin received a kidney from her father, doctors didn't remove her kidneys, Mrs. Dawson said. She explained that if Erin's kidneys had been removed she would have needed dialysis and if they kidneys are not used they will naturally shrink.

After the transplant Erin had to spend three weeks in the hospital but her father got to go home after several days. Mrs. Dawson said she spent nearly the whole three weeks by Erin's side which left her husband home alone a lot.

Dawson said he was in too much pain to make the drive to Pittsburgh more than once or twice during Erin's post-surgery hospital stay.

"I really was missing them," Randy said. He said he had a laptop computer that allowed him to communicate through e-mail.

Dawson said his views on organ donation have changed as the family has gone through the ordeal. "I wouldn't have really even thought about it," he said of donating an organ. "[Erin] changed our lives."

Erin said her life has changed too. She has to take nine to 10 pills a day until doctors notify her otherwise, and she said she will have to take two pills a day for the rest of her life. She must also get a yearly flu shot and avoid people with colds and other illnesses like the chicken pox, Dawson said.

Though insurance pays the majority of the $2,000 a month in pills, the family still has to pay about a $300 a month in co-payments, Mrs. Dawson said.

There are also weekly trips to Pittsburgh that are about to be lessened to every other week, and there's weekly blood work Mrs. Dawson said.

Unlike a typical 16-year-old, Erin said she's not that excited to get her driver's license. She's not able to get her permit until Oct. 2 because of the surgery.

Erin said she is excited that her health condition will probably get her out of gym class for at least the first semester or two of school.

Erin is also anxiously waiting to hear if her Make-a-Wish request will be granted. An avid fan of rock star Alice Cooper, Erin has asked to meet him in person.

The Dawsons said they realize there are a lot of misconceptions about organ transplants and they hope more people will learn about organ transplants and consider being donors.

The family all agreed the doctors were wonderful. "We're glad they do what they do," Dawson said.

Dawson said the family is grateful to all of the people who helped the family by offering support and holding fund-raisers. He said the Shenango Presbyterian Church in Neshannock Township, a church in Poland, Ohio, and R.W. Sidley Inc., Shenango Township, where Dawson works, all held fund-raisers for the family.