"It was around October 2012 when it was discovered I was in kidney failure. I had about 30 percent kidney function when they found out. In February 2013 they did emergency surgery so I would be able to start dialysis immediately.
"My doctors didn't know what caused my kidney failure. It was discovered only because I suddenly had extremely high blood pressure. I have asthma, and I went in to get an X-ray of my lungs, and when they checked my blood pressure, it was 220/128. I went to the emergency room, and that's when they discovered the 30 percent kidney function.
"I had been healthy my whole life up until that point. I never had any problems. I had asthma, but that was it. I got my blood pressure checked quite often, but all of sudden it was extremely high.
"We came to UAB to see what we could do and what our options might be in finding a kidney. After all of my tests, they told me I was a candidate for a kidney, and we got on the list. My wife's cousin, Karon Tidwell, decided to donate a kidney for me. We weren't a match, but that's when the incompatible paired program came into play.
"After we found out Karon was going to donate for me, it was pretty quick after that that things got moving — about two months, in fact.
"I had a few issues right after the transplant. I had hiccups for two weeks straight — non-stop. I've done that before after gall bladder surgery, and it lasted for about 6-7 days.
"For two weeks I could hardly eat or drink. My stomach muscles were hurting, and my throat was, too. It's amazing the complications that can occur from hiccups. The hiccups finally went away after I started taking a muscle relaxer, but I was sick. I had some lesions in my esophagus and I couldn't eat or drink. If I did try to eat or drink it burned like fire. That slowed my progression down a good bit.
"I was finally able to go home, and then we came back to UAB for my six-week checkup. I had been getting my blood and urine tested in Tupelo. They spotted high protein in my urine in Tupelo, which alarmed them a little bit. My protein levels were a little higher after I came back here. That's when they noticed my new kidney was failing. It wasn't functioning quite the way they thought it would. I stayed at UAB for about two weeks and they ran a lot of tests.
"They did a kidney biopsy as part of those tests, and that's when they started to think I had aHUS, or atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome. It’s a rare, life-threatening genetic disease that can damage vital organs, like the kidneys. It's possible the aHUS could have been discovered before my original kidneys failed, but they went downhill so fast that doctors weren't able to biopsy them.
"All of the tests I underwent before the transplant showed everything was fine. To have a transplant and then be on the verge of losing the kidney and find out it's because of something like aHUS is devastating.
"But there's nothing anybody could have done. The doctors at UAB have done everything right from the get go. My original kidneys were so far gone that the biopsy didn't show anything. All we can do from here is try to keep things under control and see what happens next.
"I know I'll go back to dialysis on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and I’m going to be on antibiotics for a while longer to try and get my immune system boosted back up so it can fight off infection.
"Despite all of this, I'm still so glad to be a part of the chain. You can't say enough good things about this program. Lives have been saved because of this chain. I'm proud to be a part of it. Sure, I wish it could have worked out a little bit better, but if we hadn't have been involved in this, other people would not have received their kidneys. Other people were able to benefit, and for that I'm thankful. How can you not be?
"I’d be lying if I didn’t say the past 18-20 months have been trying. My youngest son, Bryson, had a lot of health problems after I got sick. He started having seizures — anywhere from 10 to 20 a day — and he ended up in the hospital, too. He was diagnosed with conversion disorder, which happens to children sometimes in stressful situations. He’s doing better now, and UAB and Children’s of Alabama are a big reason why. The care he’s received has been phenomenal.
"And UAB’s baseball team kind of wound up adopting Bryson this past season. Coaches Brian Shoop and Perry Roth spent time with him as did so many of their players. Those young men were just unbelievable, to take time like they did for an hour or however long after practice just to be with him — and they're college kids. They've got things to do and other things they want to do. For them to take extra time out to spend with him has been amazing. They're a good bunch of kids, every one of them."