Donor and recipient await date of kidney transplant

The date for Tim Biggerstaff’s surgery has been set.
WLON’s “Swap Shop” DJ, featured in the LTN’s April 23 edition, will be admitted to Wake Forest University Medical Center in Winston-Salem on Sunday, May 24.
His surgery will be Monday, May 25.
Biggerstaff got a call on May 7 and heard the news.
“I was stunned,” he said. “I thought it would be later than that. I wrestled with the possibility that it could be a couple of years.”
Jack Folk, one of Biggerstaff’s listeners, will donate the kidney.
Folk contacted the local DJ after hearing about his condition on the radio.
“He’s a very generous man,” Biggerstaff said in an earlier interview.
Biggerstaff has suffered from juvenile diabetes since childhood. He was able to lead a normal life until December of 2000 when he was diagnosed with cerebral vasculitis.
The setback landed Biggerstaff in the hospital for more than a month.
His continued health problems have resulted in 17 eye surgeries and four insulin shots a day. He spends his nights hooked to a paratonal dialysis machine to cleanse his system.
Biggerstaff’s routines will change once the transplant is complete.
Doctors expect him to be in the hospital for about a week and out of work for about a month. The downtime is a small price to pay for a healthy kidney, Biggerstaff said.
He also hopes recovery will be quick for his donor.
Folk first made the transplant offer because he was out of work and felt it a worthwhile thing to do. Biggerstaff said he hopes Folk will bounce back quickly so he can return to work.
“That’s a tough position for such a generous man,” said Biggerstaff.
Folk and his family recently visited with Biggerstaff and his wife, Linda, for a cook out. They enjoyed the afternoon and didn’t dwell on the upcoming procedure.
“We don’t talk specifically about it a whole lot,” he said. “We both know it’s coming. We’re just proud that it’s happening.”by Diane Turbyfill