University of Delaware Office of Public Relations The Messenger Vol. 5, No. 3/1996 A heartfelt thank you for continuing support "I am sorry I didn't write this letter seven years ago immediately after graduation. However, so many different things were going on in my life that getting through each day was a top priority." When Kimberly A. Conte, Delaware '88, wrote to Betty J. Paulanka, dean of the College of Nursing, last fall, she began with an apology. One was hardly needed. Earning a college degree can be tough. Juggling course work, extracurricular activities and a personal life make for a lot of pressure. So, imagine you're a senior nursing student in the midst of a demanding clinical rotation schedule, and you've just learned you must begin dialysis treatment to support a failing kidney. That's the situation Conte faced in October 1987. In addition to completing her training in a hospital setting, she was receiving dialysis three times a week at a hospital in Wilmington. Conte's kidney problems were brought on by lupus, a disease she was diagnosed as having in 1982. A disorder of the immune system, lupus can affect the skin, joints and muscles, heart, lungs, nervous system and blood, in addition to the kidneys. Conte began having kidney problems as a sophomore, and she struggled with debilitating symptoms and fatigue even during her years on dialysis. "Recently, I have been thinking about my time at the University of Delaware andI realize how much the faculty at UD meant to the successful completion of my degree. I don't think I could have graduated without all your support and encouragement." As they watched Conte fight to maintain her academic schedule while battling frequent infections and traveling to Wilmington for treatments, her friends and professors rallied to her side. Professors drove her to her clinical assignments and then spent extra hours helping her review materials. Fellow classmates assisted her during her rotations and helped her with coursework when she was hospitalized. Conte says she was reassured by the way her professors and classmates handled her situation with a matter-of-fact resolve to see her through to graduation. "No one ever acted like I was a burden," says Conte, whose brother, Kevin, Delaware '88, and sister, Donna, Delaware '94, also are alumni. "Unless I brought it up, my friends didn't talk about my problems. Everyone in college is stressed out over something, and it was an attitude of 'We have to get through this together.' I wasn't any different in that sense." "Luckily, I finally received a kidney transplant on May 26, 1990. I am happy to report that the function of my new kidney has been wonderful, and I have not suffered any episodes of rejection." After graduation, Conte went to work part-time as a medication nurse but was frustrated because her illness kept her from fully pursuing her career. She knew her best hope was a transplant, and she waited anxiously for two and a half years for an available organ. "The waiting was difficult," she says. "My heart did a flip every time my beeper went off, but it was always a false alarm." Finally, one evening, her mother shook her awake and told her she was going to get her kidney. The successful operation took place at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and was a turning point in Conte's life. A year and a half later, she went to work full-time in Jefferson's Intermediate Dialysis Unit, where she brings a special perspective to her work. "In some respects, I'm not as sympathetic as other nurses, because I look at it like you still have a life to get on with. Some people like to wallow in their illness, but I tend to be more pragmatic," Conte says. At the same time, her experiences have helped her be a comforting presence for patients who are frightened and apprehensive. "My favorite part of the job is sitting and talking with patients and telling them what to expect," she says. "If I think it's appropriate and I think they can benefit from hearing someone else's story, I'll tell them mine." "I also have kept myself busy with the promotion of organ and tissue donationand find it very rewarding. I even participated in the U.S. Transplant Games in Atlanta, Ga., last summer. I actually won a silver medal in the 50-yard breaststroke!" Conte is a member of the Delaware Valley Transplant Program's Kidney-1 Speakers Bureau. She is a speaker at schools and churches and to various other organizations on the myths surrounding organ transplantations. "If you know how the process actually works, then you realize that the myths are unfounded," she says. She also earned her master's degree in nursing at Jefferson last July, after three years of attending classes part-time. As for her health, she feels fine most of the time, although she has been experiencing a chronic cough, occasional fever and shortness of breath. In March, she was awaiting the results of a test to determine the cause of the problems, but she wasn't letting it slow her down. She was doing her best to go for a swim whenever possible, trying to get in shape for this summer's Transplant Games in Utah. "I owe you all so much, there is no way I could possibly repay you. It would give me great pleasure to feel that I was able to thank you in some small way for all of the understanding and compassion I received during my time at the University of Delaware." -Marylee Sauder, Delaware '83