In the huge wake of the September 11^th attack on America, major media and many others continue to be consumed by the magnitude of the extreme hatred that caused it.  We cannot turn aside in the face of such evil, lest it happen again and again, but we can also be aware that there is another extreme in our midst.  There is extreme goodness among us.  It is evident in many places, but especially now with the Miracle on 73^rd Street.
This member of the media is here to give pause and witness in this holy season to extreme goodness by telling you about my neighbors - literally, my next door neighbors.  Theirs is the house by which I give direction.  "Turn right on 73^rd Street and up ahead you'll see a big red house, a two-story colonial.  We live right behind that house."
The beautiful New England style home in our private wooded area of Victoria "down by Schutz Lake" belongs to Jane and Jim Bowser.  We've known the Bowsers since they moved here in 1978.
There has been, and there is, much goodness in this Victoria neighborhood, which is probably the first neighborhood to have "invaded" Old Victoria back in 1970.  But within the past four weeks there has been extreme goodness, and it occurred just in time for Christmas.
Jane Bowser became the recipient of new life, a goodness granted her by the gracious gift of a kidney from a girlfriend.  The transplant surgery took place on October 30^th, 2001.
In looking at the big picture, Jane said, "There is in the world such extreme goodness countered by such extreme badness.  We are such humans!  Jim and I know the extreme goodness of people."
The transplant surgery and its implications also brought them close to the issue of their own mortality.  Said Jane, who turns 55 on December 4^th, "Everybody knows they're going to die, but they don't really know it.  We really know it."
Serious illness does have a way of bringing death closer to the front door, especially the front door of the red New England style home at Schutz Lake.
Since no one in the Bowser family tested to be a good match for Jane's kidney donor, the Bowsers depended on outside help.  Jane would object to the word "outside," for she's known Trudi Thalmann for over 30 years.
How did her best girlfriend from out east come to be the donor?  "She volunteered to be tested," said Jane.  "You can't ask that of anyone.  You're asking a healthy individual to undergo major surgery and give up an organ.  It's not something that you can ask of somebody.  Fifteen people volunteered to be tested for me.  I was amazed.  You assume people love you, but now I know."
In addition to knowledge of love, Jane gained knowledge of self from her sickness.  "I didn't know how sick I was," she said.  "The last five years have been awful.  There are no obvious symptoms.  It's very insidious.  I thought I was depressed.  I thought I had gotten lazy.  My energy level was so low.  This is the first year I've had my Christmas dishes out again.  I finally feel like myself.  I didn't have the energy.  I'd say to Jim, 'I don't want to decorate the house.  I don't want to decorate the tree.'  My kids picked up the slack for me."
"Now I have hope," she said. "I'm excited for the next day."
What was Jane's problem?  "Border-line high blood pressure," she replied.  "My blood pressure was never that high.  It was usually about 140/90.  But if you have compromised kidneys, that's too high.  Blood pressure can really do a number on your body.  The number one cause for kidney failure is diabetes.  The number two cause is high blood pressure."
Before the transplant surgery, Jane was on dialysis five times a day.  "It was peritoneal dialysis versus hemo-dialysis," she said.  "I could do it at home.  I had a permanent catheter into the peritoneal cavity, which is my stomach area, for 18 months.  I exchanged four and a half pounds of bad fluid for four and a half pounds of good fluid four times a day and it became five times a day."
Jane said that the longer a person undergoes dialysis, the lower the prospect becomes for a successful transplant.  The normal wait for a donor kidney is five to seven years.  Jane was on the waiting list for only 18 months.
"Over 55,000 people are waiting for a kidney," she said.  "Many people don't know this.  There are a lot of states that don't have the wonderful educational program that Minnesota has.  People are frightened at the thought of it, but they should know that donating a kidney does not shorten a donor's life.  Trudi will tell you that she doesn't have any pain.  She's back at work."
How and when did Jane become acquainted with the friend who would be so consequential to her life, happiness, and health?  Let's start at the beginning.
Jane, the youngest of three children, was born in New Hampshire on December 4^th, 1946, and reared in Massachusetts.  Her father was a printer who did layouts for magazines.  Her mother was a homemaker.
She met Jim on a blind date and they were married five months later.  Jim, ever the punster and clever fellow, had meticulously placed a diamond engagement ring in the prize package of a Cracker Jack box.  Jane recognized it as the treasure it was.  The couple married on December 27^th, 1969.  Yes, a December birthday and a December anniversary coincide nicely with the celebration of life and the Miracle on 73^rd Street.
The newlyweds moved to the Chicago area where Jane met Trudi "on the job" in 1970.  "We were both orthodontic assistants," said Jane.  "She was 19 and I was 24.  I've known her longer than her husband.  We just clicked.  Then she had her three kids and I had my three kids.  We call each other often and we've seen each other at least once a year for over 30 years, despite the miles between us."
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