Mary Ellen Hawk knows how precious life is and how quickly it could change.

In May 2021, the Nesquehoning woman went for a routine checkup at her doctor’s and learned that something may be wrong.

“He was feeling both my sides and kept coming back to the right side,” she said. “He said, ‘You know, I’m feeling something here. I don’t know what it is but I think we should get it checked.’ ”

Hawk went for an ultrasound and was soon diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, a type of kidney cancer.

For most, it meant treatment and possibly removing the kidney. However, Hawk only had one kidney left, donating her other to her now late husband, Nathan, in 2001.

“Within a week, I had an appointment down at St. Luke’s in Allentown with Dr. Jarrod Rosenthal. He looked over everything and said, ‘The kidney has to come out. Chemo, radiation, nothing’s going to help this. It’s too far gone.’”

Hawk said the doctor asked her what symptoms she had been having prior to her diagnosis.

“None,” she said. “Nothing’s been wrong.”

Rosenthal and his medical team then began working on a plan, which included weekly dialysis treatments for the next 37 months before Hawk could be placed on the transplant list.

She explained that the long wait was due to the doctors needing to verify that the cancer was only in the kidney and had not metastasized to another organ.

After receiving the all-clear, Hawk was placed on a transplant list on July 12, 2024.

“Because I was a previous donor, I was priority,” Hawk said.

Five days later, she got the call that many wait years for.

“Temple had a kidney for me,” she said.

Her sister took her down to Temple University Hospital and the next day, Hawk received her new kidney.

What makes that day even more special, Hawk said, was that July 18 would have been her and Nathan’s 43rd wedding anniversary.

“It’s like he was looking down from up above and he and God arranged that I got this kidney,” she said, noting that everything went well with the surgery.

Hawk said that the improvement in her overall health was almost instant, losing approximately 22 pounds in water weight following the transplant and lowering her blood pressure to the point that she no longer needed medication.

“Dialysis did its job, but it didn’t take the fluid off like the kidney could.”

Following her stay at the hospital, Hawk was discharged to The Gift of Life Howie’s House in Philadelphia, where she received additional care and support.

While there, she hit a bump in the road that a nurse noticed and got the ball rolling for additional help.

“She noticed the difficulty I was having with walking and reported it to the doctors,” Hawk said.

She was transported back to the hospital for more diagnostic tests and was discharged on Aug. 5.

Hawk returned home in Nesquehoning and was still experiencing some issues.

A few days after the interview, Hawk was readmitted to the hospital after having difficulty breathing.

Several blood clots were discovered and were able to be removed.

She has since resumed her recovery journey and said in October that she is feeling like herself again.

“My kidney numbers are good and I’m getting there,” she said, noting that she now has to be careful with what she eats since her immune system is now suppressed.

“I’m getting there,” Hawk said.

A donation of love

In 2001, Mary Ellen Hawk gave the gift of life to her husband, Nathan.

It was a week after their 20th wedding anniversary when she gave him a kidney. He had been diagnosed with kidney failure the year before.

“Dialysis was very hard on him,” Hawk said, adding that after watching her husband endure it, she made the decision to get tested to see if she was a match.

“I knew in my heart that my kidney was going to work (for Nathan),” she said. “We got the call from the doctor and he said he had never seen something like this and told me ‘you are a match for your husband.’”

The doctor said that Mary Ellen had six of seven of the markers needed when matching organs and noted that there is only one chance in a million that a husband and wife would be compatible. The Hawks were only the second husband and wife transplant surgery that he had performed.

She asked if the surgery could be set up for July 18, their wedding anniversary. However, that date was not available so one week later, on July 25, 2001, the couple underwent surgery together to save Nathan’s life.

Nathan Hawk lived three years following his wife’s special gift, passing away on Nov. 2, 2004, at the age of 59, after contracting a virus.

Words of wisdom Mary Ellen said that she gives anyone who hears her story, “become a donor.”

“I went 20 years without a problem and the only reason that I lost my second kidney was because it developed a cancer,” she said. “That’s rare and doesn’t happen normally.

“If you can be a donor, I would say do it. We need the organs here. Heaven knows we need them here.”

For more information on becoming an organ donor, visit https://donatelifepa.org.