For Todd Mayfield, a Navy veteran and engineer, kidney disease has always been a topic of conversation in his family. 

“On the Mayfield side of the family, if you were a man who lived past 40, you didn’t do it with operating kidneys,” said Todd. “My dad went from being 36 and playing basketball every day to 18 months later being in a wheelchair.”  

In 2022, Todd was informed of the same diagnosis many men in his family had previously received – kidney failure.  

As Todd grappled with the reality of his failing kidneys, he leaned on his wife, Tanja, for assistance. But Tanja knew that they needed to cast a wider net of support to help Todd get better.  

“It’s hard to be a [caregiver] to your loved ones. Nothing prepares you for it,” said Tanja. Fortunately, Tanja was able to lean on Todd’s care team at DaVita for additional support.  

“The people at DaVita were just incredible. They were instrumental in giving us resources and information,” she shared. The team even helped Todd get to his son’s wedding in Jamaica while on dialysis, despite the challenges that planning the trip would hold.  

“We knew how important it was to him. We knew he needed to be there for his son,” said Katie Winfree, home facility administrator at Tidewater Home Dialysis in Virginia Beach.  

The team helped the Mayfields prepare for air travel, educated them on diet and health regulations while staying in a hotel, organized emergency evacuation protocols, and everything in between. With the help of his DaVita team, Tanja’s best friend, Todd’s mother, the hotel staff, and so many others, Todd was able to attend the wedding and even got to dance the night away with his wife.  

Following an incredible experience at the wedding, Todd was faced with the looming reality of returning to dialysis. Although he loved his care team, he knew dialysis was temporary and he became determined to get a kidney transplant. 

Todd and Tanja knew that it was time to find new ways to find a donor, but they didn’t realize that the answer was in the palm of their hand: social media.  

“We periodically got on Facebook to tell everybody what I was going through,” said Todd. “You can’t get help if you never ask for it.”  

From transplant centers, to sharing their experience with traveling dialysis for the wedding, Tanja consistently shared Todd’s story to her network. As they began sharing his story, friends, family members, and even distant acquaintances started asking how they could help.  

“I was amazed. People we barely knew were hearing my story,” he said.  

As Todd and Tanja continued to share his story, loved ones started getting tested to see if they were a transplant match.    

Just two months after Todd was put on dialysis and they began sharing his story on social media, they received a message of hope. A Facebook friend, Shockey, reached out online and offered to see if she was a match. 

“I had only met Shockey once many years ago. I could not believe that she was willing to do this for me. . .I was so blessed to receive a transplant so quickly,” he said.  

But Todd and Tanja don’t attribute his life-saving transplant to luck; they give all the credit to their social media community.  

“You feel uncomfortable talking to people about your health issue and it's uncomfortable to ask people to do something for you,” said Todd. “But you have to get your story out there. You have to.”  

Now, Todd and Tanja are committed to serving and educating the kidney care community through social media.  

“We’re on a [mission] to help prevent kidney disease and encourage people to use this [experience] as a stepping stone. We are going to keep being proponents of kidney health until we can't do it anymore,” said Tanja. She now encourages her community to get educated by taking advantage of resources like Kidney Smart®, a free kidney health education program.  

While the future is always uncertain, Todd and Tanja plan to take advantage of every second the gift of a transplant has given them.  

“We’re going to do everything. Travel. Educate others. [Have] grandkids. Everything. Shockey gave me this gift and I got it for a reason.”