Search for biological family leads to organ gift After a whirlwind of introductions to dozens of her family members, Orton and Russelburg had their first opportunity to get to know each other and discovered how much they had in common, from their hobbies to the close ages of their children. Russelburg's health had started to deteriorate in early 2015 as complications from diabetes put him in renal failure in the early part of 2015, about three years after they met. In December, he collapsed at work and had to be flown by Life Flight to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, where he was told his kidneys were operating at 4 percent of their normal capacity, and he was placed on the waiting list for a kidney transplant — a list with an average wait of five to eight years. After weeks of blood tests, physical examinations and interviews to determine that Orton was a fit donor, she and Russelburg went under the knife on Jan.