By Blythe Bernhard, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 20, 2008

Doctors, nurses and patients came to say goodbye and thank you to Anita Williams, a nurse and advocate for organ donation who retired Wednesday after working 42 years at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

The hospital held a celebration Wednesday to honor Williams, whose last position at the hospital was kidney transplant coordinator.

Williams regularly spoke at her church and on radio talk shows to encourage African-Americans to become kidney donors. Diabetes, which disproportionately affects black people, is the leading cause of kidney failure.

Although more than 20 percent of the people waiting for a new kidney at Barnes-Jewish are black, only 10 percent of the living donors there are black, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

Williams thinks the biggest barrier to donating organs is financial. Donors often miss three months of work, and the surgery is typically not covered by insurance.

"People don''t want their loved ones to suffer," Williams said. "But they just can''t afford that. It''s a big expense."

For the last nine years, Williams, 65, spent her days and nights helping hundreds of kidney transplant patients navigate the delicate process of waiting for a new organ and taking care of it after the surgery.

"Anytime I ever needed help, she had answers for me," said Hazelwood resident Melvine Robinson, 76, who got a kidney transplant a year ago. "She was the nurse you always wanted by your side."

Linda Ashlock of O''Fallon, Mo., talked to Williams nearly every day after she had complications following a kidney transplant five years ago. Ashlock even had the nurse over to dinner to thank her.

"She''s just the best caretaker in the whole world," said Ashlock, 65. "I think we''re all scared about what we''re going to do without her."

Working with transplant patients is especially rewarding, Williams said, because they come in sicker than anybody and leave with a chance for a healthy life.

"This is their very last chance and they get this opportunity," Williams said. "When they''re doing well, I''m doing well."

After a kidney transplant, patients undergo extensive testing to make sure the organ is performing correctly. They also take complex drug cocktails to help the body accept the new kidney.

Williams made sure patients followed all the rules. If they didn''t, her most successful tactic was reminding them what it was like to be on dialysis, where a machine filters the blood in place of failed kidneys.

Karla Bathon, 43, of Florissant, got a new kidney almost 15 years ago and has stayed in touch with Williams.

"It just seems like she takes a lot more time with you than anybody else," Bathon said.

Williams, who lives in St. Peters, plans to spend her retirement educating people about becoming organ donors and helping them through the process.

The transplant nurse urged Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, to create a donor leave act that would give paid time off for organ donors. Williams spoke with Clay when the congressman visited the hospital in January to promote his bill that would track the long-term health of organ donors.

Williams also wants to start diabetes and organ donation awareness programs through her church, St. Elizabeth, Mother of John the Baptist, in St. Louis.

"This is like my second chance," Williams said. "I think we''re all here to help each other."