Ray Branstetter of Powell was driving to Denver not knowing whether his kidney would arrive. But like every person on dialysis, he wanted off. So he pressed on.

“Dialysis was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Branstetter said.

Many times he thought of the end of his life, as do many people on dialysis, because that means they are also on a list to receive a kidney donation. Unfortunately the list is long and there are very few donations from strangers — about 500 per year — and Branstetter didn’t have a family member who was a perfect match.

He was the kind of person who pushed aside pain and feelings of being ill. A common personality trait; some folks simply refuse to complain and hate going to see a doctor.

“Usually you don’t want bad news, so you don’t want to know,” he said.

The delay didn’t do Branstetter any favors. When he found out he was suffering from kidney failure, he kept the information to himself. And he didn’t do anything about it for months — until he was too sick to push away help.

“He is denying a lot of the doctor’s expectations of where he should be,” his wife Vanna Branstetter said in a Tribune interview in 2023.

With only 6% kidney function Ray has continued to work not one, but two jobs and still found the time and energy to run away into the mountains with his friends.

“He’s in love with Wyoming and any sort of activity in the mountains,” Vanna said. 

When his health failed it was clear he needed a transplant.

“I didn’t realize how sick I was,” Ray said. “It’s amazing how one organ can affect so many other things in your body.”

Then his daughters did something he would have never done himself. They advertised in local media, including the Tribune, looking for a match for their father.

In an ad for a spaghetti benefit for Ray, they put in bold letters; “The Branstetter family is also reaching out to those in the community who are willing to see if they are a kidney match with Ray.”

That’s when Clark resident Ken Montgomery saw the ad and reached out to the family. While Montgomery donated his kidney to another patient, the voucher in his hand would eventually become a life-saving gesture to Ray.

“It wasn’t a miracle, but a lot of things had to happen to find Ray,” Montgomery said.

First, he had to donate a kidney to a stranger to receive a voucher, moving the recipient to the front of the line of tens of thousands of people with kidney failure. Then he had to see the ad and a story in the Tribune, which Ray’s daughters insisted he do despite Ray never wanting to speak to a reporter.

“That’s something that potential kidney recipients need to get past: You have to get word out,” Montgomery said. “You’re going to dialysis, which is like a living hell four times a week, you know, and hope is never a good strategy.”

Montgomery had twice tried to give his kidney to friends in need, but one died and he wasn’t a match for the second. That’s when he was asked if he would be willing to give his kidney to a stranger. It’s a big ask for most people.

“At that point, 99.99% of people just drop out, but because there aren’t that many people donating in the first place, I thought that I’ve gone through this long process, and you know I’m healthy and stuff, and qualified to do it,” he said, justifying his generosity. “It’s easy to talk, you know, but you have to walk the walk.”

Despite kidney donations rarely being given to strangers, Montgomery is that rare type of person. Only about 500 kidney donations are made to strangers every year in the U.S. There are currently more than 90,000 Americans actively waiting for a lifesaving kidney transplant, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration, accounting for the vast majority (nearly 90%) of the approximately 103,000 people on the national transplant waiting list.

The list is growing. More than 808,000 people in the United States are living with End Stage Renal Disease, with 68% on dialysis.

Overcoming obstacles

Montgomery’s giving nature led him to give a piece of himself to a stranger. But even arriving for his donation appointment was a miracle, of sorts.

A few days before his donation, Montgomery took his dog for a walk on his Clark property. He typically takes bear spray and a gun with him when they go for hikes in the canyon, but he didn’t take either for the walk. That’s when he came face to face with an angry grizzly bear — close enough to feel its breath on his face. Amazingly, he wasn’t terrorized as much as he was worried. He can clearly remember thinking about the person about to receive his kidney, among other scattered thoughts people have when they are facing a life or death situation.

“I’m thinking this poor guy who’s going to get my kidney, who I don’t know, isn’t going to know he’s not getting a kidney if I don’t show up,” he said.

He also worried about the actual kidney while he faced the grizzly.

“One of my thoughts was, I wonder if he’s going to claw my back, and I wonder how deep it’s gonna go. Like, will he claw all the way through?”

It was during what he thought were a stream of thoughts prior to his grizzly death that his normally mild-mannered yellow lab turned into “Cujo.”

“He came and got that grizzly bear out of my face,” he said, wincing during his tale. “I thought I was dead. I mean, I really did.”

Montgomery had to overcome a lot to successfully donate a kidney, including a conflict with a wild beast, before receiving his voucher, which he gave to Ray, a stranger, after seeing him mentioned in a paper Ray didn’t want to be in. Maybe it’s technically not a miracle, but it sure sounds like one.

“He saved my life,” Ray said of Ken. “The world needs more people like Ken.”

Ray said the gift from Montgomery — and the actual donor — changed his life. He had believed in a higher power out there, but after the operation that changed.

“I’m really a believer now,” he said. “My life has changed immensely.”

He couldn’t figure out how to say thank you to people who literally saved your life — people who made it possible to be here for his family and possibly see a future grandchild, if such a blessing is in the cards. So he decided simply to be a better person.

“I’m trying to do everything the best way I can, to be the best person I can be after being given this opportunity — for Ken’s sake and for the lady from Philadelphia who actually gave me the kidney,” Ray said.

Part of what he can do is to let people know about the dire situation those in renal failure face. And that led him back to interviews with the press; “to let everyone know my story.”

Yet, Ray Branstetter isn’t the end of this story. His June 1 anniversary of his surgery to save his life and the story of his gift from a stranger could be just a beginning for someone else in need, said executive director of Wait List Zero Elaine Perlman.

Donor becomes a leader

Perlman started her career as a teacher, but then she (and later her son) donated their kidneys to strangers. That’s when she decided simply giving a kidney wasn’t enough for her.

“About three years ago, when I realized we could end the kidney shortage, I resigned from my position. I was a professor at Columbia University, and I began to advocate for three bills,” Perlman said in an interview with the Tribune.

The first bill, in the state of New York, was unanimously passed. It reimburses every New Yorker who donates an organ to another New Yorker for all costs and lost wages. New York is the first state to pass such a law.

The second bill, which has already passed but has yet to take effect, fixes the low-income donor reimbursement program the federal government operates.

“Let’s say you’re a donor who is low income and wants to get reimbursed for cost and lost wages. They’re not going to look at your income, they’re going to look at the organ recipient’s income for qualification, which was backwards. It makes no sense, it’s illogical. And so this bill will change it, so they’re only looking at donor income,” she said.

She is now the leader of the Coalition to Modify the National Organ Transplant Act, which seeks to help find an end to the tragic results most with renal failure face. To do so, the organization is pressing for a law to offer a $10,000 tax credit a year for five years to U.S. residents willing to donate a kidney to a stranger.

It may seem like a lot to offer, but it pales in comparison to how much the federal government currently pays for patients on dialysis. According to the National Institute of Health, dialysis accounts for roughly 6% to 7% of total Medicare spending, or about $78.4 billion to $80.5 billion per year. Medicare assumes primary coverage for nearly all individuals with End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) regardless of age.

Montgomery got behind the bill and, in cooperation with Perlman, started visiting Wyoming’s U.S. representative and senators. All were willing to listen, but only Rep. Harriet Hageman was willing to co-sponsor the legislation.

“It has stuck with me because of what’s in that gentleman’s heart,” Hageman said in an interview at the Tribune office. “And the fact that he was willing to do this for the sake of doing it, that this was something that he could contribute to somebody, and I just felt that that was just truly the epitome of a [high] level of faith in humanity. It was really pretty amazing.”

Beyond a touching story from a constituent, Hageman realized the Act was a “win/win” for everyone involved, including the federal government.

“We can save lives, and we can save money. It’s a total win-win all around,” Hageman said.

However, things aren’t moving fast in Congress these days and it’s frustrating for Hageman to know there are positive bills that should be a bipartisan win, but they aren’t moving.

“This, to me, is one of those things where we can solve a problem — that we can address a concern — we can actually represent our constituents in a way that is positive,” Rep. Hageman said. “Some of what we do isn’t all that positive. This is something that we can point to, and we can say we did something really good for the American people. Not everybody has to deal with a kidney issue, but those that do, yeah, let’s try to take care of them.”

Montgomery is still hopeful Barrasso and Lummis’ replacement will help support the bill. Regardless of the results, he won’t stop pushing. As for Branstetter; he’s still trying to be the best person he can be in an attempt to pay back the life that was given to him by a complete stranger.

“I could never thank him enough. I mean, a total stranger. It’s pretty amazing,” he said.