BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. -- Longtime piano teacher Paula Ribnicky says her life changed about five years ago when her diabetes damaged her kidneys.
- Paula Ribnicky has uphill battle with health
- Ribnicky advertises need for kidney on her car
- Ribnicky to be active on transplant list after July 16
Since then, dialysis has become the 70-year-old's lifeline. She was put on the kidney transplant list but knew the list was long.
Two years ago the music almost stopped, Ribnicky says, when she got peritonitis, a serious infection in her abdomen and almost died.
The doctor told her sister, Ribnicky might not survive the night but she did and got healthier.
As Ribnicky would explain, 2015 became the downward spiral that would ultimately render her inactive in the kidney transplant list.
In 2016, she developed an abscess and was in the hospital for more than a month. Then, in December 2017, Ribnicky fell and broke her arm, which caused a lodged blood clot.
"Next thing I know, I wake up at the hospital and I had a double bypass surgery in my heart," she said.
Since there are so many people on the kidney transplant list, she decided to take matters into her own hands and put a sticker on her car letting everyone knows she needs a kidney hoping someone would step up.
Lately, she's been thinking about her future and if continuing dialysis is something she will do for the rest of her life if she doesn’t get a kidney.
She says she's been spending time thinking about her mortality and the reality that soon she will be forced to face the toughest decision of her life.
"My worst fear is that I'll have to do this for the rest of my life, having to do this is my 70s and 80s no, I don't know how long I will continue if I don't get a kidney," Ribnicky said.
Ribnicky's lifelong dream would be to travel to Italy and see where her grandparents are from and reconnect with her Italian roots.
Her blood type is O Negative. Ribnicky is going to the cardiologist on July 16 to get the green light to be once again active in the kidney transplant list.
If you'd like to help her, call 321-693-3550.