Faces of Compassion: Kathy Schwab, decades devoted to transplant – professionally, and personally

Sep 15 3:15pm | Kristin Eggebraaten | @keggebraaten

Kathy is a registered nurse who has held several roles within the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center, from heart and lung transplant coordinator to nurse manager and, today, working in compliance and quality. Her connection to transplantation became even more personal when her older sister developed kidney failure and Kathy made the decision to become her living kidney donor.

What drew you to a career in transplant?

My husband was part of the kidney and pancreas transplant team, which was my first introduction to the amazing work happening in the Transplant Center. Once I joined the team myself, I was fortunate to participate in HRSA collaboratives for donation and transplantation, which allowed me to be part of a national effort to improve patient outcomes and transplant availability.

Transplant is one of those career choices where you either love it and stay or move on to another role. For me, it was clearly the former.

What led you to become a living kidney donor?

My older sister gradually developed kidney failure - watching her health decline made the decision to become her donor very easy.

What do you remember most about the donation process?

The amazing providers, especially my living donor coordinator, Kay Kosberg. Even though I had worked in transplant for several years, Kay helped me navigate the process as a potential donor quickly and easily.

How does your personal connection to donation influence how you approach your work each day?

You take nothing for granted. You never know when you might experience a life-altering disease.

What do you wish more people understood about donation?

Donation is a safe and relatively easy process. If you can help another person, just do it.

Outside of work, Kathy enjoys reading, needlework, gardening, volunteering and spending time with family and friends. After more than four decades at Mayo Clinic and a career dedicated to transplantation, her perspective remains grounded in a simple lesson from her own experience: never take good health, or the opportunity to help someone else, for granted.

About Faces of Compassion
Faces of Compassion is a monthly series highlighting members of the Mayo Clinic Transplant Center team who are personally connected to organ, eye and tissue donation or transplantation. Through their stories, we honor the compassion and lived experience that inform the care our transplant teams provide every day.

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