Social - June 2003

Ailing man receives kidney from the heart

By DIANE TURBYFILL, LTN Staff Writer

Kevin Hull was born with a genetic kidney disease.

“Basically, when I grew up the kidneys didn’t,” says Kevin.

His kidneys held out until Kevin hit his 40s. He then began visiting doctors monthly.

His condition worsened. He felt awful around the clock and slept 16 hours a day. Completing a full work day at U.S. Airways was all he could manage.

It was time to go on dialysis.

Kevin and his wife, Pat, attended six weeks of classes to be able to do the procedures at home. Their spare bedroom soon looked like a dialysis center—one they visited 15 hours a week.

Kevin’s name was placed on a donor’s list. Doctors told him he could always pursue a live donor. Though he never asked, his family and his wife’s family all went in to be tested.

Kevin was amazed by the support from his in-laws.

“I got really lucky,” he says. “I got into a family and became family.”

A member of his acquired family — Pat’s aunt, Myra O’Connor — turned out to be a match.

The family was overjoyed. Surgery was set for October 31, 2001 for Myra to donate one of her kidneys to Kevin.

Myra still remembers calling him on his birthday to tell him the good news.

“I said, ‘Kevin, I just sent you a card, but I have another gift for you,’” Myra recalls.

But the joyful news soon changed, when a second phone call came. Myra’s kidney had a 60 percent possibility of rejection.

“There were a lot of ups and downs,” Kevin says.

Months passed. Kevin and Pat continued home dialysis.

Thanks to research and plasmapheresis, a procedure to separate plasma, there was new hope. Myra got a call in September 2002, and she was ready.

Kevin checked into Duke Hospital a week before the procedure to undergo plasmapheresis, to help prevent his body from rejecting Myra’s kidney.

Kevin and Myra had surgery on Oct. 25, 2002 — a date they now celebrate monthly. The anniversary often spurs a contest to see who will call the other first.

“We’re closer than ever,” Myra says.

The operation was a success. Myra had some complications from the surgery but nothing she couldn’t handle, she says.

“It was all worth it,” Myra says.

Kevin says he’s not quite 100 percent, but he’s close.

He recently went hiking on Crowders Mountain with Pat. He talks about taking up fly fishing and looks forward to visiting his family in Indiana for his birthday next week.

As Myra and Kevin reminisce about the tumultuous times, they sing the praises of their doctors and one person.

“Pat is the hero,” says Myra. “I just happened to have the kidney that matched him.”

“I couldn’t do anything without both of them,” Kevin says.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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