“I happened to go to the doctor one day, and he told me my blood pressure was high. He gave me some blood pressure medicine, but it wasn’t helping. I had fluid building to the point where I wasn’t able to breathe. And that’s what made me go to the hospital, which is when I found out I had end-stage kidney disease. I started dialysis immediately.
“First it was kind of depressing; but as time progressed, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. My story is kind of unusual in that I had way more better days than I did bad ones. To be honest, the whole time I was going through it, I never felt any differently than when I was healthy. I knew I had a situation, and I knew I was sick, but as far as feeling sick? Nah.
“I did dialysis for around three years, but I kept running out of sites to be stuck in. I kept having problems, and I never really wanted to do home dialysis, so that’s what made me consider getting a kidney transplant.
“My ex-girlfriend offered to give me a kidney, so we went through the tests, and the surgeries took place on May 15, 2015. But after the fourth day, it started developing blood clots. It was removed, and I had to go back on dialysis for another five months.
“Then in October 2015, I got a letter that they had found a perfect match donor, and I would be getting a kidney on Oct. 30. I remember that, on the day I was admitted to UAB to have the second procedure, I saw a family walk in the waiting room and thought, ‘They must be here for the same thing.’ The aunt was going to give her niece a kidney, but they weren’t a match. The aunt turned out to be my match, and then the niece got a kidney from someone else in the chain. So it was kind of crazy and a blessing at the same time.
“Everything worked out pretty good. I’m still going strong now. The surgery wasn’t bad, and I knew I was in good hands. I was really happy to get back to my healthy state, and now I have no problems at all. My donor came to see me at my job in Northport back in April of 2016. They had a special day at UAB where they celebrated the kidney donors and recipients, and I couldn’t make it because I had to work, so she ended up stopping by to see me on the way, taking pictures and everything. She’s a sweet lady.
“I’m proud to be a part of the chain. I hope my story could help inspire people to not be scared of the situation but just face it. Now I’m living a normal life, and it was all for the best.”