Donora kidney recipient celebrates new lease on life

Freda Heilman underwent life-saving transplant surgery thanks to a donation by her sister.

By JILL RUNFOLA
For the MVI

After five years of dialysis and five long years of waiting for a kidney transplant, Donora resident Freda Heilman, received her miracle.

Her younger sister, Kasie, 23, gave her a late holiday gift: her own kidney. She underwent much testing, and thankfully, she was a match. Heilman received her new kidney on Dec. 29, 2025.

Heilman, 33, had spent five years hooked up to a dialysis machine. For three days a week, four hours a day, she was hooked up to the machine. She also suffered another health setback two years ago, as she collapsed at work with a brain clot. A maintenance worker for nine years at the Donora Towers high rise, prayers from residents poured in for her while she was in the hospital. But, after two tireless and frustrating years, she gave up hope and was ready to give up on the treatments altogether.

Then, she had an awakening when family and friends intervened. Resident and family friend Patti Rongaus was among those who spoke to her. That conversation changed everything for her, and she became more serious about her health and treatments from then on.

“Her mom is delighted. It was a nervous time for her because she had two girls going through all this,” Rongaus said.

Heilman credits her doctor, Dr. Sudha M. Nayar, saying, “She was the best. When she needed to yell at me, she did it, because I can be a little hard-headed.”

Her health journey began when her kidneys began to fail at the age of 28.

In the U.S., approximately 750,000 patients are affected by kidney failure each year, with more than 100,000 on the kidney transplant list, according to Statistics of the Kidney Project-UCSF.

The challenges people face with dialysis vary for everyone. She says she was fortunate enough to go three days a week and sleep during the treatments. She also had to adhere to strict diet restrictions, especially after she became serious about her health.

“Dialysis is exhausting for patients and fraught with morbidity and eventual mortality. Only 35% of hemodialysis patients remain alive after 5 years of treatment,” according to Statistics of the Kidney Project- USCF.

Heilman said her sister coming through as a kidney donor came just in time to save her life. Her last day of work before surgery at Donora Towers was Dec. 23. Her surgery was on Dec. 29. Tenants offered sincere wishes and a lot of light-hearted joking.

She said post surgery that her sister is doing well.

What’s the best advice for people thinking about donating a kidney or getting a transplant?

“You cannot force anybody to do anything they don’t want to do,” Heilman said, adding, “But, you can help save somebody else’s life. I would do whatever I could to help someone else in a heart beat.”

Her strength and faith come from family and friends, and she welcomes prayers.

Heilman was born and raised in Donora, the middle sibling of two sisters, Kasie and Jessica, 39.

Now, she says, she “got a lot of love and it was very much appreciated. It’s always nice to have a good group of people in your corner.”

She added, “Besides being happy to be here, it’s the little things you miss.” She now enjoys eating a piece of chocolate cake. She jokes, “Oh, what I would have done for a piece of chocolate cake. Oh, and I love ice cream.”

Joking aside, Heilman is grateful for her second chance.

“I don’t think I deserve what I have gone through,” she said.

While everything is going smoothly posttransplant, she said she is taking life “one day at a time,” which is her motto.

“You can’t change the outcome of things, so there’s no point in stressing about what you can’t change.”