Stephanie Page likes to tell people that she has four kidneys and two pancreases.

The Greensburg resident follows up their looks of shock by explaining that she has twice had organ transplants, once for a kidney and part of a pancreas, the second time for a kidney and full pancreas.

Page's saga spans decades, and twice required an agonizing wait followed by a gift of a magnitude that is difficult to comprehend.

"It's hard to imagine the difference, the difference a transplant makes in your life," Page says.

Her story started her senior year of college, when an infection left her with diabetes. Although she initially managed the condition, eventually her diabetes grew out of control and damaged her kidneys.

By the age of 35, Page had to end a career as a dancer and was in and out of the hospital and on dialysis.

"It kept me alive, but I was always ill," Page says of the dialysis. "It was pretty much a nightmare for me."

She was approved for a transplant and placed on a waiting list.

Mary Polnik, Page's mother, says waiting while her daughter grew sicker and sicker was almost unbearable.

"Every time the phone would ring we would jump," Polnik says. "You wait and pray."

In November of 1990, while in the hospital, Page received the call. Doctors at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Oakland gave her a new kidney and in an experimental procedure grafted onto her pancreas new islet cells, the part of the pancreas that produces insulin.

While the kidney transplant was successful to bring Page off dialysis and restore her health, the islet cell transplant did not succeed, and her diabetes once again began to damage her kidneys.

Page's health once again deteriorated, and in 1995 she was approved for another transplant and placed on a waiting list. She moved in with her parents outside of Uniontown and continued to require extensive care.

"Nobody knows what we went through and how many hospitals we went to," Polnik says.

On Feb. 7, 1996, Page was at home with her parents celebrating her birthday when the phone rang. It was Page's doctor.

"She called and said, 'I have a birthday present for you.' And I said, 'Well why would you buy me something?"

It was a present money couldn't buy: the pancreas and kidney of a teenager killed in a car accident. For the final time, Page went into surgery at UPMC Presbyterian hospital, and eight hours later she emerged a new person.

"That's when my life totally changed," Page says.

The new kidney brought her health back, and more importantly, the new pancreas cured her diabetes. She went back to work as a fitness instructor in North Huntingdon and leads an active life.

Most transplant recipients never know who their donor is. Patients learn the age, gender and cause of death, and may send thank you letters stripped of personal details to the donor's family.

In Page's case, her donor's family wanted to meet her, and after both parties gave their consent Page had the opportunity to talk to Charlene and Don Brode of Bedford County. Their son, Brad, had died at the age of 14 in a car crash, and the Brodes made the decision that allowed Page a new chance at life.

Page and the Brodes still are in touch and occasionally visit each other. Page attended what would have been Brad's graduation with the Brodes, and each year, they exchange Christmas cards.

And what would Page say to Brad, or to the man who gave her the first kidney?

"What can you say to somebody who's given you your life?

"How can you ever thank them? I owe my life to both of them."