Carrboro police officer still needs a kidney

CARRBORO, North Carolina (WTVD) -- We introduced you to Officer Chiquita Kinsley back in February.

Back then, the proud member of the Carrboro Police Department told us about her health---and the need to have a kidney transplant from a live donor.

"Since I was only born with one, and during those years my kidney function has declined. So now it's like 20 percent," she said during our first story.

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Tuesday when we checked in with her for an update, she remained upbeat about her health challenge:.

"I'm steady. My function is stable right now," Officer Kinsley said. "They still want me to look for a living donor."

One option is a donation from her husband, if he's a match. But since they have two teenaged children, two convalescing adults would require extra, potentially expensive care.

"So if he's a donor, I also have to find other caregivers. For myself, and for him."

After our first story about her aired, ABC11 viewers asked us how they could help. Two of them wanted to donate but tests showed they were not matches for Kinsley.

Now she hopes one of you could help if your blood type's Type O positive.

"You'd be helping me out as well as my family, and you'd give me quality of life and to continue doing what I'm doing in law enforcement," she said.

Without a healthy kidney, she says, her health could decline to the point where she needs dialysis...which would end her career.

"It's three days a week, long hours," she said. "That means I couldn't work, so I would have to go on disability."

She says her transplant coordinator at Duke Hospital is Emma Warcott, whose number is (919) 613-7777.

While she waits to see if there is a living match for her, she's wearing a T-shirt with a defiant message: "Kidney disease messed with the wrong cop."

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