{"id":5539,"date":"2022-06-08T09:43:57","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T16:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/?p=5539"},"modified":"2022-06-08T09:43:58","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T16:43:58","slug":"one-realtors-message-to-share-a-spare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/one-realtors-message-to-share-a-spare","title":{"rendered":"One Realtor’s Message to “Share a Spare”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Lynda<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When Realtor\u00ae Lynda Brookshire<\/a> shares her tagline \u201cLive your best life at the Alabama Gulf Coast,<\/a>\u201d she is thinking beyond real estate and relocating to sandy shores. Along with helping clients find their dream home, she is dedicated to letting the community know that health is wealth. Her friends and family tease that \u201cshe is gonna get you a house or get you a kidney…or both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brookshire and her husband, Loyd, moved to Gulf Shores in October 2017.  After a series of health challenges that landed Loyd in the hospital multiple times within a span of two years, Brookshire realized it was her mission to increase awareness for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), organ donation, and the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle. She believes sharing their experience can help others give, receive, or maximize the gift of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The couple began tackling Loyd\u2019s kidney disease, believed to be hereditary, head-on from the onset. \u201cThe heart and the kidneys are like a push and pull- one affects the other.  They\u2019re vascular organs.  In our case, the doctors didn\u2019t initially realize that his kidneys were causing the high blood pressure. They treated him for high blood pressure for years instead of finding the root cause.  It was the kidneys all along,\u201d said Brookshire. After a hospitalization in 2018 for kidney bleeding, organ failure and sepsis in December 2019, and another hospitalization for high blood pressure in June 2021, the Brookshires dug in their heels to get answers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loyd converted to vegetarian and pescatarian diets in 2019,\nallowing him to eliminate the need for insulin and other medications, buying\nhim more precious time before entering the waiting list for a transplant. They\nbecame hyper-organized with a leather folder, discs, and paper copies of Loyd\u2019s\ncomplete health history.  They visited\nnumerous physicians and nephrologists to learn as much as possible, researched\nthe right questions to ask in advance, and inquired about cutting-edge research\nrelated to CKD. Reading about pig-to-human\nkidneys transplants<\/a> at University of Alabama and robotic\nkidney transplants<\/a> at the Cleveland Clinic helped them keep their fingers\non the pulse of nephrology. Brookshire recommends that every patient does this\ntype of deep dive so that medical providers \u201cdon\u2019t have the chance to say no\u201d\nwhile advocating for your personal health or exploring treatment options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loyd\u2019s case, unfortunately, is not rare. According to the National Kidney Foundation\u00ae<\/a>,\n37 million people in the United States have chronic kidney disease, and 100,000\npeople are waiting for a kidney transplant. The Centers\nfor Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> estimate that as many as 9 in 10 adults\nwith CKD are unaware they have the disease. It\u2019s more common in those 65 years\nand older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brookshire is leveraging her real estate business to talk to\nas many people as possible and believes that there is no such thing as an\naccidental meeting or bad timing. To her, it\u2019s the opportunity to make someone\naware of subjects that are not discussed enough: CKD and overall health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople should know what being a donor means. You are only\nable to donate if you are a match, and there is an extensive process to figure\nthat out. Donors can live a healthy life with one kidney and give the gift of\nlife to someone else, so the transplant team goes to great lengths to maximize\nthe chances of a successful transplant,\u201d says Brookshire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Brookshire speaks to the importance of healthy\nliving and self-care for prevention and knowing the right questions to ask when\nvisiting a medical professional. \u201cI don\u2019t know who my information will touch,\nbut I know that it could save someone\u2019s life,\u201d says Brookshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loyd Brookshire moved to the transplant list at the\nUniversity of Alabama (UAB) Kidney Transplant Center in April 2022. He awaits\nhis perfect match, along with over 1,100\nothers on UAB\u2019s list<\/a>. He is maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle to\nstay off dialysis as long as possible. Brookshire has already named his future\nkidney \u201cBilly the Kid(ney)\u201d and is looking forward to the future with Lynda,\ntheir adult children, and grandchildren. Finding a living donor is his best\noption, and there are currently 3 people in line to test for a match. The\ncouple have faith that no matter what the future brings, all will turn out as\nit should. They are eager to find the person who will \u201cShare a Spare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI encourage anyone interested in learning more about CKD or\ndonation to get in contact,\u201d says Brookshire. \u201cI\u2019m a real estate agent… I\nknow how to answer the phone day or night!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Could you be someone who could give the gift of life?<\/em> Contact Lynda at 251-978-4078 or SaltLifeByLynda@gmail.com<\/a> to discuss the process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To follow the Brookshire\u2019s journey and to learn more about chronic kidney disease, follow their Facebook page, \u201cAre You Kidney\u2019ing Me<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Realtor\u00ae Lynda Brookshire shares her tagline \u201cLive your best life at the Alabama Gulf Coast,\u201d she is thinking beyond real estate and relocating to sandy shores. Along with helping clients find their dream home, she is dedicated to letting the community know that health is wealth. Her friends and family tease that \u201cshe is … Continue reading One Realtor’s Message to “Share a Spare”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[19,3,722,829],"tags":[574,200,59],"yst_prominent_words":[6220,6222,6234,6233,6235,6230,6241,6242,3389,6221,6218,6223,6219,6240,1289,2845,796,6237,6238,6239],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5539"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5542,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539\/revisions\/5542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5539"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=5539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}