Colorado Couple Participates In Paired kidney Exchange After ANCA kidney Failure
USA: A Colorado husband and wife have become central figures in a dramatic kidney transplantation story after a rapid autoimmune collapse left the husband’s kidneys nonfunctional. Heston Gray developed ANCA vasculitis and went from feeling well to spending 33 days in the hospital, including five days in intensive care and three days on a ventilator. Within a month his kidneys failed, and he moved to in-center hemodialysis three times weekly at a DaVita kidney center while awaiting transplant options.
His wife, Holly Gray, stayed at his side through treatment and began exploring the dialysis clinic work she observed. In September of last year she left a 25-year career in mortgage finance and took a role as a patient care technician at the DaVita center to better understand her husband’s experience and support him more directly. That proximity turned into direct action this year when the couple entered the paired kidney exchange program.
Because Holly was not a direct match for Heston, she donated a kidney through the paired exchange in September of this year, enabling a swap that sent her organ to another recipient while moving Heston up the waiting list. The exchange mechanism raised Heston’s chances of receiving a transplant within the next three months by 90 percent. Holly recovered rapidly, returning to work three weeks after surgery and resuming running as part of her rehabilitation.
The couple now await Heston’s transplant day with guarded optimism, focusing on recovery and future goals. Heston has set a post-transplant strength target of deadlifting 350 pounds, while Holly aims to complete a 50-mile run within a year. Their story highlights the paired exchange pathway: a living donation that extended immediate help to another patient and materially improved Heston’s prospects for his own life-changing transplantation.
