Colleen Hjort-Frederiksen, Living Donor

Colleen lives in Des Moines, Iowa with her husband, stepdaughter and their Boston Terrier, Penny. She grew up in Central Iowa, lived in New Jersey for 9 years working as a nanny, and moved back to Des Moines in 2005. Polycystic Kidney Disease runs in her mom’s side of the family. Colleen’s cousin, Debbie, was diagnosed with PKD in the early 1990s. Debbie had her kidneys removed in February of 2013 and Colleen was approved to donate to her in February of 2014 after the surgeons figured out how to transplant her two arteried right kidney into Debbie. Their transplant surgery was March 25, 2014 at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. Debbie is doing extremely well and loving spending time with her grandkids. Colleen is also doing very well. This journey brought Colleen to work for the National Kidney Foundation in October of 2019 as the Community Outreach Manager for the Iowa and Nebraska office. In May of 2022, she began the position of Living Donor Support Manager for the headquarters office.