contributed photo
Jessica Winkels-Hagerl loves spending time outdoors – walking, skiing, kayaking, camping. Now that she has a transplanted liver and kidney, she is hoping her health improves to the point she can be a full-fledged outdoor woman as often as she likes. At her side in this photo is her beloved dog, Hunter.

Not a day goes by that Jessica Winkels-Hagerl doesn’t feel deeply grateful for the 19-year-old girl who saved her life.

She does not know the girls’ name. She only knows the girl, who lived somewhere in the Twin Cities, was an organ donor who died about nine months ago. Doctors transplanted the girl’s liver and one of her kidneys into Winkels-Hagerl on May 1, 2011 at the Mayo Clinic.

Winkels-Hagerl, a 1998 graduate of Sartell High School, will be honored during a fundraiser in her name from 8:30 a.m.-noon, Sunday, Feb. 19 at St. Francis Xavier Elementary School in Sartell. She and her parents, Dan and Donna Winkels of Sartell, are members of that church. On that day, there will be a breakfast, bake sale and silent auction. All proceeds will go to help Winkels-Hagerl and her family defray medical costs. The event is also a way to inform others about the importance of becoming organ donors – a cause that is not surprisingly dear to Winkels-Hagerl’s heart.

“I am extremely grateful for this wonderful gift of life, and I appreciate the kindness of my donor and her family,” Winkels-Hagerl said. “Their generosity allows their loved one to live on through me. I’ve learned a lot in the past year. I think the most important thing I have learned is that you need to be an advocate for yourself and that hindsight is always 20/20. I have also learned the importance of blood and organ donation because without others being willing to donate their blood or organs I would not be where I am today.”

Winkels-Hagerl lives in Cloquet and works as a learning supervisor at Northwoods Children Services in Duluth, a facility for at-risk youth similar to the St. Cloud Children’s home. Her husband, James Hagerl, also works at Northwoods. After graduating from Sartell High School, Winkels-Hagerl attended Northern Michigan University, then earned a master’s degree in community mental health from Southern New Hampshire University. She then worked in Vermont and in Madison, Wis. before moving back to Minnesota for her job in Duluth.

Since her transplant operation, Winkels-Hagerl took time to recuperate and is now back at her job.

For many years, Winkels-Hagerl sometimes felt she was living on borrowed time. That is because she knew all too well there was a kind of time bomb ticking away inside her that would likely lead to a crisis someday.

When she was only 4 years old, she developed kidney stones that required surgical removal. It wasn’t until three years later that, after rounds of testing, doctors discovered she had inherited a very rare genetic disease called “Primary Hyperoxaluria,” a shortage in the liver of a certain enzyme, which can cause a build-up of oxalic acid that, combined with calcium, can cause kidney stones and other damage that can ruin the kidneys.

The disease is so rare it occurs in – at most – three in one million people.

About two years ago, Winkels-Hagerl’s time bomb began to tick. She began to feel utterly exhausted and spent a lot of time doing sedentary activities and sleeping – most uncommon for the 31-year-old woman who loves the outdoors. She went to the doctors, who thought at first it might be a viral infection. A week later, she knew her loss of energy was directly related to her long-time disease. It became alarmingly clear a transplant would be required.

Winkels-Hagerl describes the last two years as an “emotional rollercoaster” during which her normal life plunged suddenly into shocking hospitalizations, including many monotonous hours of dialysis necessitated by her kidney failure that happened in November 2010. In the meantime, while on dialysis, Winkels-Hagerl suffered a pulmonary embolism, and a pacemaker had to be installed within her. She was placed on a waiting list for a liver-and-kidney transplant, and finally in late April of last year she received the good news that the organs were available, thanks to the 19-year-old donor in the Twin Cities.

All of Winkels-Hagerl’s family and friends said countless prayers for her, hoping mightily that everything would turn out fine.

“We knew for years her liver was a problem,” said her father, Dan. “And we knew that someday she would probably need a transplant. But we also knew she would need both a liver and a kidney. We greatly appreciate that donor family. They went through a tragedy of their own. We are grateful to them.”

Another wellwisher was Winkels-Hagerl’s good friend Maria Legatt, who had had a heart transplant. Legatt grew up in St. Stephen and also graduated from Sartell High School. Because of the medical ordeals both have gone through for years, the two women have developed an empathic connection.

Both Winkels-Hagerl and Legatt frequently give talks about the importance of becoming an organ donor.

Needless to say, both know they would not be here without the donor program.

Those who are unable to attend the Feb. 19 fundraiser for Winkels-Hagerl can still donate money by sending a check to “Bank Vista FBO Jessica Winkels-Hagerl,” at BankVista, 125 Twin Rivers Court, Sartell, MN 56377.

On the envelope, write “Attn: Jan Cook.”