How far would you go to save someone’s life?

My mom saved the life of someone whom she had before never met. A stranger saved my dad’s life.

Five years ago on Feb. 26 – which also was my daughter’s milestone 13^th birthday – my family and I gathered in the waiting room at Mayo Clinic in Rochester as my dad was wheeled into surgery. In an adjacent room, a selfless woman went into surgery to remove one of her kidneys for my dad.

This day was years in the making.

My dad, Jim Fesenmeyer of Greene, Iowa, was 28 years old when he was diagnosed with kidney disease. His situation was monitored every six months for 42 years. His health started to decline in 2000, but his local kidney doctor insisted all was well. My parents decided it was time for a second opinion.

They traveled to a prominent Iowa hospital where a doctor told my dad that he had less than 50% kidney function. My parents were shocked and asked what could be done. The doctor then shockingly replied, “Mr. Fesenmeyer, we all have to die some time.”

Not ones to just give up, my parents took matters into their own hands. They were determined to get an appointment at Mayo Clinic, but that’s easier said that done. At that time, Mayo was only accepting new patients if someone didn’t show up for a scheduled appointment. My parents made the two-hour drive, one way, every day from April until July 2000. Every day for three months they waited from 7 a.m. to noon in hopes of getting an appointment for a diagnosis from the Mayo Clinic.

Finally, on July 3, 2000, my dad finally got an appointment at the Mayo Clinic. He was diagnosed with Polycystic Kidney Disease (PDK), which causes the kidney to fill with polyps. These fluid-filled cysts in the kidneys prevent them from working properly.

A team of specialist put Dad on a specific diet that was more restrictive than the low sodium diet he had been following. He had to more closely monitor the amount of protein and carbohydrates in his diet. This was no small feat for this meat and potatoes lover!

Protein is one of your body’s building blocks but eating too much protein can make your kidneys work harder. Carbohydrates are the easiest kind of energy for your body to use, but some carbs are high in potassium and phosphorus. Your body needs some potassium to make your muscles work, but too much potassium can be dangerous. When your kidneys aren’t functioning properly, you must limit your potassium intake. That meant my dad had to give up eating fresh tomatoes and watermelons he enjoyed growing in his garden.

Once Dad was under the supervision of Mayo doctors, his creatinine levels improved. He was placed on a kidney transplant list, but he was told the odds weren’t good that he would receive a cadaver kidney. Another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 10 minutes, according to the American Kidney Fund. There are nearly 100,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list. Many people wait for five to 10 years for a kidney from a deceased donor.

Quite frankly, my dad’s age and condition didn’t give him the luxury of waiting for a cadaver kidney. A search began in earnest for a living donor. My dad’s four sisters were tested but none of them could donate. About 20 of my parents’ friends filled out paperwork to get tested as a donor. One of my dad’s close friends was a match. Knowing he had a kidney at the ready gave my dad peace of mind. Two years later when that same friend was tested again, he no longer passed the test.

To say that was a blow to the psyche is a severe understatement. My dad was in despair, but my tenacious mother was determined to make the transplant happen. Mom learned about the paired kidney donor program, and without telling me or my brother, she was tested to become a living donor. Mom’s donation to a stranger allowed my dad to receive a kidney from Mary Baumgart of Minnesota City, Minn. Mary’s donation allowed her friend Sue to receive the kidney she so desperately needed.

Mary and Sue met in Bible Study. When Mary learned Sue needed a kidney, she answered the call.

“Right then I knew in my soul that God had said to me, ‘You’re going to be the one to give the kidney to Sue,’” said Mary in an April 16, 2014, article that ran in the Greene Recorder. “Like it says in 2 Corinthians concerning the church body, ‘When one hurts, all hurt. When one is blessed, all are honored’.”

So many lives have been blessed since the first paired kidney transplant occurred in 2000. About one-third of all kidney transplants performed in the U.S. are living-donor transplants. It takes about three to six months to coordinate a live transplant. If you’re interested in becoming a living donor, visit mayoclinic.org/livingdonor.

The living-donor kidney transplant offers these benefits:

• Less time spent on a waiting list, which could prevent possible complications and deterioration of health.
• Potential avoidance of dialysis. (My dad’s kidney function started dropping rapidly. He was literally one week away from going on dialysis when his kidney match was made.)
• Better short- and long-term survival rates.
• A pre-scheduled transplant once your donor is approved versus an unscheduled, emergency transplant procedure with a deceased donor.
• Living-donor kidneys almost always start working immediately after transplant compared with deceased-donor kidneys that can have delayed function

In celebration of March National Kidney Month, we’re helping spread the word about Polycystic Kidney Disease. We’re also sharing a recipe from Hy-Vee for Fajita-Style New York Strip Steak and Veggies, which has been slightly adapted to dietician-approved and kidney-friendly.

Get more great healthy recipe ideas from https://www.hy-vee.com/recipes-ideas. Click here for a Family Recipe Book for Kidney Patients. Below are links to two past blog articles that include more healthy tips and recipes:

• Tips for Resolving to Eat Healthy
• Pro Tips for Creating Heart Healthy Meals

It’s that time of year again when the Latham Seed office staff come together for our annual Employee Holiday Potluck and Ugly Sweater party. As per usual employees brought their best with a wonderful spread of good eats and lots of laughs to boot. The winner of our unofficial sweater/costume contest was Rod Fesenmeyer donning his Donner outfit.

Other crowd favorite favorites were Sharon Martin’s circa 1970 poinsettia earrings, Sandie Johnson‘s light up Christmas bulb necklace, Shannon Latham‘s Baaah Humbug lamb sweater, Becky Lane’s knickers and Christmas stockings, and John Latham’s knit wool vest.

I’m not sure it’s possible to pick a crowd favorite dish at this party, but if you’ve got a holiday get together coming up this recipe for Jalapeno Meatballs was a hit with our crowd. And better yet, it goes together in seconds and the slow cooker does the work.

Merry Christmas to all our Latham staff and thanks for a fun day of laughs!

When Joel and Margaret Dirksen got married, there wasn’t enough farmland to support three families. Joel’s grandpa and his uncle were farming together, and the newlyweds wanted to farm nearby. Fortunately, an opportunity arose just a half-mile away from the home farm where their neighbor was looking for someone to help on his dairy.

“Joel has always loved animals, and he grew up knowing he wanted to farm,” says Margaret. “He loves cows and his passion for dairying grew with each year.”

That passion has become Joel’s legacy.

Three of the Dirksen’s four adult children have been involved with the family’s dairy farm. Their youngest daughter, Amy, teaches and is a counselor at a Lutheran high school. Although she left the family farm, she didn’t stray far from her roots as she and her husband live in America’s Dairyland. The Dirksen’s oldest son, Daniel, lives just down the road. He’s a full-time Operations Specialist at Post Consumer Brands in St. Ansgar. He’s a regular Friday milker and helps out whenever he can. Their oldest daughter, Christa Ryg, had been their lead heardsman and one of their A.I. technicians for 22 years. She left the family dairy at the end of September as rising healthcare costs prompted her to take a full-time job with benefits since her husband is a grain farmer. Their youngest son, Eric, has shadowed his father from the time he was old enough to walk. After graduating in 2004 from Luther Preparitory School Watertown in Watertown, Wisconsin. Eric earned a degree in Dairy Science from Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar. Then in 2015 he became a partner with his parents in the dairy operation.

The Dirksens usually milk 120 cows, but there are just 105 in the milk line now. There are about 250 Holsteins on the farm, including young calves and young stock. It’s a closed operation, so they raise all their replacement heifers. They’ll sell bull calves or dairy beef, depending on the market.

“Babies need lots of attention,” explains Margaret, who is responsible for calf care. She gives them milk and water, keeps their bedding dry and keeps a close eye on them for signs of lethargy or unusual behavior that might indicate a calf isn’t feeling well. “You really have to pay attention to the details,” she adds.

The Dirksens keep calves in three different groups: young calves, weaned calves, and replacement heifers. These groups ensure the animals receive the proper feed rations needed for that stage of growth. From newborn to two months, all calves are in the calf barn. Weaned calves are moved to a free stall facility for three months. Once they have a vet check and are vaccinated, they transition to another pen where they start the silage program for about six to 10 months. Once the heifers are a year old, they move into the breeding group.

The heifers are usually artificially inseminated around 13 months of age. A cow’s gestation period is approximately nine months, and a cow must give birth before she’s able to produce milk. The cycle of insemination, pregnancy, parturition (birth), and lactation is followed by a “dry” period. About two months before a cow is due to calve, she will be separated from the milk cows and housed with other dry cows.

Raw milk is sold to Foremost Farms, a dairy cooperative based and headquartered in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Foremost Farms is an award-winning supplier of cheese, dairy products and ingredients. It takes high quality raw milk to produce high quality dairy products. Milk production is tracked per cow, at Dirksen Dairy. In addition to milk volume, butterfat is a key measurement. Ankle tags help indicate when the cows can be bred, and now the A.I. work is Eric’s responsibility. He also has taken over Christa’s milking responsibilities, and are always looking for reliable help.

The morning milk shift starts at 2:30 a.m. Feed is mixed, and the actual milking begins at 3:30 a.m. It takes about 2.5 hours to milk in their double six herringbone parlor. Once the milking is done, it’s time to finish the chores: Livestock is fed. Stalls are cleaned. Depending on the season, field work is done. While Joel primarily does the crop farming, Eric and Margaret help when needed. Then the afternoon milking begins at 3 p.m.

“It’s easy for people to walk into a grocery store without thinking about all the time, attention to detail and care that goes into producing quality products,” says Margaret. “We try to help people understand the amount of time dairy farmers puts into producing a product, so we give farm tours. We show guests what we feed our cows and let them see the milk in the bulk tank.”

Eric says he would like people to understand that milk is tested for quality several times before it hits the grocery store shelves. Weather greatly impacts production, so they do all they can to keep their cows comfortable. Heat and humidity decrease milk production, so they use fans and sprinklers to keep cows cool during the summer months. The sides of their buildings were removed this summer due to excessive heat, and will put them back on this fall to keep the cows warmer during the winter months.

Farming requires a lot of hard work, and markets fluctuate, but the Dirksens say there isn’t anything they’d rather do. Eric is proud to be a fourth-generation grain farmer and second-generation dairyman. This proud husband and father of three will share his love of land and livestock with his nine-year-old step-son, one-year-old daughter and two-month-old son.

Today the Dirksen family is sharing with us one of their favorite recipes, featuring the quality dairy products they enjoy helping produce.