My Story
Life was great! Kelly and I just bought our house, our three kids were thriving, our youngest child was born, and I became owner of Metro Paving! Everything that I had worked so hard for was all coming together; I was living the dream!
​
So, how did we find out about my kidney disease? It was pretty mundane, actually. My blood pressure was a bit high, as usual. I had just moved to Becker, so Kelly made an appointment for me with her family doctor. "Protein in your urine". Yeah, I had that in my test for years. My former physician was never concerned...said it was normal. It turns out there is nothing normal about it.
My new doctor, Dr. Paul Spinner, would be the first physician to change my life. He immediately referred me to a kidney specialist. One kidney biopsy later I received the diagnosis: Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). I was not happy with the news that particular nephrologist gave me: "6 months". I was told to spend as much time with my family as possible.
Wanting a second opinion, Dr. Spinner referred me to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester.
It would be here that I would meet the second physician that would change my life. Dr. Eddie Greene; my nephrologist at the Mayo Clinic who I have now been with for 17 years.
With the help of Dr. Greene, we were able to keep my kidney disease somewhat under control for quite some time. But, as we have learned, you cannot outrun the inevitable.
​
We now started the process of putting our game plan into action. You see, we DID have a game plan. Kelly would donate her kidney via the Mayo Clinic's Paired Donor program. That was always the plan. ALWAYS. Kelly would donate a kidney, not only would I receive a kidney, but someone else would also receive one, and our lives would go on. I know...naive...
Testing for Kelly was going great! Passing with flying colors! Until her A1C blood test results.
".01". Her numbers came up .01 too high and she was denied to be a kidney donor. Our game plan was now out the door, I was put on the kidney transplant list, and we began our search for a living kidney donor.
​
On April 1, 2022 (yes, April Fool's Day) I was not feeling well at all. The entire month prior to that I had not been doing well. My health was visibly declining and after talking on the phone to Dr. Greene, I was told to get to the Mayo ER ASAP. We arrived in Rochester around 8:00 that evening. The next thing I knew I was in surgery getting a hemodialysis catheter put in. That would be where my dialysis journey would very abruptly begin. Since then, I have been going into dialysis 4 hours/day, 3 days/week at a dialysis center a couple of towns from my home. We are hoping to be able to start Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) that I can do in my own home. Once that starts, I will be doing dialysis 8 hours/day, 7 days/week.
This has been a very emotional and exhausting journey. Since my initial surgery in April, I have added a surgery to put a PD catheter into my stomach, a surgery to remove a melanoma from my back, an entire kidney removal surgery to remove one of my kidneys that had a cancerous tumor growing on it, and my most recent surgery to revise my PD catheter. That is a total of 5 surgeries in 3 months.
It is vital that I find a kidney donor soon! Please follow the Mayo Clinic link to learn more about their Paired Donor program and how you could give the gift of life by becoming a living kidney donor.
​
​
​
