After life-saving surgery, Blue Jackets reporter, donor continue recovery

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — It didn’t take long after kidney transplant surgery for Aaron “Porty” Portzline’s friends and family to instantly notice he looked healthier.

“I’ve heard several people say that my color is better,” Portzline said two weeks post-surgery on a Zoom call that included his kidney donor, Lindy Noel. “I have not spent any time outside so I’m not, like, tan.”

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“I look more full of life than I did before, even though I’m moving at a glacial pace around the house,” Portzline added with a laugh.

It may be a glacial pace, but that still thrills Portzline.

“They leave the kidneys in,” he said explaining part of the procedure. “They just add a kidney. They don’t remove the ones that aren’t working.”

Portzline has added more than a kidney and years to his life in the last couple of weeks; he’s added a lifetime connection with Noel. The woman who used to hand him the microphone at Columbus Blue Jackets press conferences as part of the communications team, has now handed a new lease on life.

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And when they woke up after surgery they were just around the corner from each other at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

“It was nice to just see him and be like we did this together,” she said with a smile.

The duo also learned very quickly after waking up from surgery on April 26 that they had more support than just each other.

“When I couldn’t sleep I just opened Twitter, or I guess X, and you just see the overwhelming support. It was crazy!” Noel said. “It was very endearing to get it from strangers but it’s also just unbelievable the notes that we got from people we do know. I have to give a lot of credit to the Blue Jackets for being unbelievably supportive this whole journey. Even that night, getting a text from one of the Blue Jackets players saying he was proud of me and it means a lot.”

“I had one player ask if a kidney transplant is that a lower-body injury or an upper-body injury?” Portzline said as Noel giggled – referencing the generic way hockey teams describe their players’ ailments to the press.

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“I said ‘As of now, it’s an outer-body injury because I’m really not with it with the anesthesia and everything,'” Portzline responded.

As they heal together, they each have their own recoveries. Portzline is focused on blood tests and doctors’ visits to make sure his now third kidney is adapting.

“You know Lindy is quite a bit smaller than I am, so they made a point of saying it’s a smaller kidney, so the adjustment we typically see we expect it to be a little bit slower,” Portzline said. “The really shocking thing to me was I gained 28 pounds in surgery. Now very little of that is kidney. The rest of it is fluids to give that kidney something to do immediately – immediate homework for the new kidney. I feel a ton better now that a lot of that has come off with more to go I hope.”

“I think it’s important that Aaron said that 28 pounds was not from my kidney,” Noel said. “I did not lose 28 pounds during this.”

For Noel, the biggest adjustment has come in her diet.

“I was up and moving the next day after returning home,” she said. “You know, making sure I’m getting enough protein as a vegetarian but not too much — I only have one kidney so it can’t process that much.”

But after having time to mentally process what she’s done, does Noel feel like she’s weirdly missing something?

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“I don’t feel different,” she said. “Like, I don’t feel like I have a gaping hole inside my body or anything.”

If anything, Noel said she feels more full than ever.

“I would highly encourage more people to consider becoming a living donor,” she said. “It’s not this horrible experience. It’s probably going to be one of my greatest achievements honestly. I’m very proud of myself for going through with this, but I’m very proud of the ability to help Aaron through this journey.”

If you’d like to learn more about becoming a kidney donor through the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center, click here.

For the full conversation between Portzline, Noel and NBC 4’s Whitney Harding, watch the video below.

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