Local farmer in need of kidney

MASON CITY, Ill. (WAND) - Billboards scattered through Springfield, Decatur, Peoria, and Bloomington share the message of a local farmer's need for a kidney.

As a fourth-generation farmer, Reid Bitner knows how to get a job done. Rarely asking for help, the father of 7 is the backbone of his family and the person everyone can count on.

But, after getting the news in October that Reid would need a kidney transplant, the Bitner family got to work asking people to step forward and sign up to be a potential living miracle.

"If you can donate and give life to someone, you are their miracle," said Joyee Bitner, Reid's wife.

Joyee started a Facebook page, spoke with the local paper, and created a billboard to find her husband a match.

"I had to do everything in my power to get the word out," she said.

Reid's kidney troubles started in his 20's. He told WAND News while working in Wisconsin he was hospitalized because he had lost his vision and wasn't feeling well. Doctors soon learned he had a kidney condition that he was born with and he would need a transplant as soon as possible.

"It was just the luck of the draw I was born with it," he said.

In 2009, his mother, at the age of 51, donated her kidney. According to Donate Life America, on average, a living donor kidney can function anywhere from 12 to 20 years. After a recent doctor's visit, Reid learned that he would need a new kidney because the one his mother donated wasn't working to its full potential.

"Right now they don't have many answers as to what's going on," Reid explained. "There is just a bunch of scar tissue and it's [the kidney] not functioning properly."

The couple said plans are in place for Reid to go on dialysis after the new year while they wait for a living donor match. Joyee said her husband's doctors encouraged her to start raising awareness and find her husband a kidney.

"God put him in my life to take him. He's my husband and it's my job to be his voice and advocate."

The Reid family is searching to share the gift of life. Reid will have a kidney transplant, once a match is found, at the University of Wisconsin. People willing to donate should go to https://www.uwhealth.org/treatments/living-kidney-donation. Potential donors should click on the red box that says "Learn if you can be a living kidney donor". To learn more about Reid's journey and to find ways to support them, click here.

According to Donate Life America, there are more than 100,000 people on the national transplant list, and more than 85% of the patients are waiting for a kidney. A person's body can function completely normally with one kidney and living with one kidney does not make a person more at risk for kidney disease in the future.