Wayne woman's lifesaving kidney transplant inspired her to 'give back.' Here's how

WAYNE — It was like some type of miracle or special providence that rescued Jean Sime when her kidneys stopped working.

Or perhaps, it was just that someone listened to what she had to say.

Sime, 58, a township resident, reflected on the years before her transplant surgery as if it was her former life — the one she would like to forget. She spent up to nine grueling hours per week at a dialysis clinic, where a machine siphoned her blood, cleaned it and pumped it back to course through her ailing body.

But everything changed, she said, after a phlebotomist told her story to a nurse who happened to be a willing organ donor.

“As soon as I heard her voice,” Sime said, “I knew that she had my kidney.”

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Tuesday marked five years since Sime’s operation, and she said she now dedicates most of her time to raising awareness about organ transplants.

She is celebrating the recent release of a children’s book, “Howl is Thankful for Kidney Donation,” which she co-authored with Brenda Cortez of Franklin, Wisconsin.

Cortez, a kidney donor and the founder of BC Books, a limited liability company based in her hometown, created the “Howl the Owl” book series and branded merchandise to inspire kindness.

All 10 books in the series focus on organ donation — a subject that Sime said is not discussed nearly enough.

“It’s like this taboo thing,” Sime said. “It affects a lot of people, but no one talks about it.”

The numbers are clear.

Seventeen people die each day waiting for organ transplants, according to federal statistics.

More than 46,000 transplants were performed across the U.S. last year, but there are still thousands of people, including 2,151 children, waiting for lifesaving surgeries.

Sime said she hopes her book encourages readers to become organ donors and that it gives optimism to families forced to wait it out. She said she also hopes that children’s hospitals will purchase copies of it and provide it as reading material for their patients.

“This is a way for me to give back,” Sime said. “This is my way of being grateful for the gift that I received.”

The 28-page book is the third collaboration between Sime and Cortez.

Sime was a contributing author for “Because of Organ Donation,” a collection of 25 stories compiled and published by Cortez in April 2021.

A year later, she penned the opening story for “Voices-19: Their Legacies Live On,” another collection by Cortez. Each chapter in that book portrayed the life of a loved one who died as a result of COVID complications.

Sime wrote her piece on her late sister, Vivian Meitzler, of Bloomfield, and the latest “Howl the Owl” book is dedicated to her memory.

To purchase a copy of the book, visit the BC Books website at bcbooksllc.com.

Become an organ donor

Every 8 minutes, someone in the U.S. is added to a waiting list for a transplant surgery.

To join the National Donate Life Registry as an organ donor, visit the N.J. Sharing Network website at njsharingnetwork.org.

Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Wayne NJ woman's 'Howl the Owl' kids' book focuses on organ donation