Starting last July, Beverly Robertson, president of the National Civil Rights Museum, would wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get ready for her weekly kidney dialysis.

She would arrive at 5:15 a.m. at the dialysis center, where she sat in a treatment room while her blood flowed through a translucent plastic tube into a dialysis machine and newly clean blood flowed through another tube back into her body.

She repeated the routine for about nine months every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, until she had a kidney transplant in February.

She is now a self-appointed advocate for the Methodist University Hospital Transplant Unit. The hospital is attempting to gain support to receive a waiver from a federal regulatory decision to reduce the hospital's ability to receive organs from two organ procurement organizations and limit it to one that serves parts of West Tennessee and North Mississippi.

According to Dr. James Eason of Methodist, the change, which will go into effect in December, will reduce the pool of potential organ donors from about 7.5 million to 2 million.

It's a change that Robertson believes could take away opportunities for others to receive organ transplants, primarily for the liver, kidneys and pancreas.

"What it in essence means is that people are going to die," said Robertson, 60. "If they can't get a lifesaving organ, there are no options. The intervention is the transplant itself. I may not be here today if it were not for the ability to have a donor."

According to Eason, the average wait time for a kidney transplant in Memphis is about three years.

Robertson was an exception, but Eason said if she had not received the transplant, the probability of her receiving a new kidney after December would be drastically lowered.

"She was fortunate in that she got a close match fairly quickly," Eason said.

The Mid-South Transplant Foundation, however, supports the federal change, calling it a fairer method of distributing organs. Even with the smaller procurement area,

foundation officials say, there will be enough organs available for Memphis-area transplant patients.

Eason said along with diabetes, the top cause for kidney disease is hypertension or high blood pressure.

"I knew that the propensity for me to have it (high blood pressure) was pretty great," said Robertson. "What I didn't know was that high blood pressure can cause kidney damage."

Robertson visited her physician for a basic checkup and was sent the same day to a specialist, where she learned her high blood pressure was breaking down the blood vessels in her kidneys.

"I think sometimes we don't really understand how precious life is until our lives are threatened by something -- by some force -- that we may or may not have known about," Robertson said.

When speaking about her time on dialysis, Robertson's voice was steady and calm.

"It wasn't painful," she said. "It was just the time."

Her daughter, Adrienne Hines, worried that a transplant would be a long time in coming.

"That was my initial thought -- that she would be on the list for years and years and still undergo dialysis treatment," said Hines, a teacher at Hamilton Elementary.

Hines and her two younger brothers were tested to determine if they could be donors, but they don't share their mother's blood type, a crucial aspect of organ donation.

Eventually, Robertson's courage inspired the family to have faith that she would get a transplant.

"When she was on dialysis, she never had a day when she was depressed and wasn't herself," Hines said. "She was always bubbly and very energetic. Her spirit through it all was wonderful."

Though some dialysis patients are too weak to work, Robertson returned to work at the museum after her treatments.

She said very few of her employees knew of her condition because of her demeanor.

She wanted to keep the focus on the museum.

"It's very challenging. It can be stressful. But it's a calling -- the work that I do here," Robertson said. "So I don't view it as so much as a chore, but more so a real opportunity to be able to work here."

After the surgery, Robertson continued to see doctors to ensure that her body was accepting her new kidney. She took medication to prevent her immune system from attacking the new organ. She still continues medication to regulate her high blood pressure.

Robertson has spoken at various events about the regulatory controversy, including at the flag ceremony during National Kidney Awareness Week at Methodist and The Sisterhood Showcase banquet.

"She's a fireball," Eason said. "She's truly dedicated to trying to do what's right for this community."

She said she wants other patients on the organ donor waiting list to have the same opportunity she had.

"I feel incredibly blessed," Robertson said. "I want those same blessings to be in order for as many people as possible."

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