BUTLER, Ky. – Two northern Kentucky teachers will undergo surgery Tuesday to change each other’s lives permanently. Jessica Spillman-Murrell and Robin Reis share a friendship that has brought them a chance to give back to each other.
Murrell is a Hiseville native. She now lives in Butler, Kentucky, a town approximately 27 miles south of Cincinnati, Ohio. She moved away from Barren County when she was 19 years old and she later became friends with Reis at Northern Elementary where the two teach.
“We rode in a motorcycle club together, and of course, we teach down the hallway together,” Murrell said. “We have a lot of mutual friends.”
Reis said it was at a wedding two years ago that Murrell approached her. Murrell had heard “through the grapevine” that Reis could use a kidney.
“I’ve always liked Jessica. She’s always been a person I’ve looked up to, and really loved actually,” Reis said. “When we were at this wedding together she mentioned that she could be a donor for me if I needed it. Our friendship kind of blossomed from there.”
While the underlying issue remains a mystery, Reis said a severe endometriosis issue occurred when she was a teenager, moving into her twenties. She has since suffered complications from a surgery used then to correct the issue.
Reis suffers from vesicoureteral reflux, a condition in which urine can flow back into the bladder and kidneys, ultimately causing chronic infections. She said if it weren’t for the immediacy of the transplant, she would have to undergo dialysis.
“My level is where I’m close to needing dialysis,” Reis said. “So the timing is perfect that I can just bypass that step.”
It wasn’t a quick process to becoming a verified match. Murrell said extensive testing and tissue sampling began in late 2018.
“We were a tissue type match,” Murrell said. “That was the first big hurdle, and that was the first big thing where we knew this was really happening. This was not just talk now, it’s really going to happen”
Several other hurdles came about, but after two years of waiting Murrell was approved in January to be a donor.
Murrell said she never thought about not helping her friend for many reasons. Her daughter suffered from “kidney reflux” as an infant. Murrell also said her friendship inspired her to be a help to Reis.
“I just pretty much told Robin that day that I knew that I was going to be a match, and that when it came down to it, I would get tested,” Murrell said. “I would go through every hoop and jump and hurdle I would jump over just to make it happen.”
Reis plans to be away from school through August recovering. For her, this sacrifice means a lot.
“It means the world to us and my family,” Reis said. “We are forever indebted to her and her family for this wonderful gift.”
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