Newswise — A hospital employee in Houston started 2008 by giving his boss the best gift of all, a gift that saved his life.
On Jan. 8 Charlie Ward, a director of public safety at The Methodist Hospital, received a kidney from one of his employees. Ward, 54, could have spent as long as five years on a transplant waiting list, but four of his co-workers stepped up to be potential donors.
Joshua Phipps, a manager of public safety, turned out to be a good cross match so he agreed to donate a kidney to his boss.
"I have two and Charlie needs one in order to live," said Phipps. "(Donating a kidney) is absolutely the right thing to do."
Just a few days after the transplant Ward was recovering and had plenty of energy to walk down the hospital hallway and visit his co-worker. "What do you say to a guy who gives you one of his kidneys?" he said. "Any expression of gratitude that I can come up with would be totally inadequate."
All his life Ward had polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder that causes cysts to grow in the kidneys. PKD causes reduced kidney function and kidney failure and eventually most people with it will have end-stage renal failure.That happened to Ward last August. He "crashed" and had to be taken to The Methodist Hospital's emergency department. He then underwent home dialysis but realized it was inevitable he would need a transplant.
Methodist co-workers stepped forward to become donors for Ward, who has worked at the hospital for more than 20 years. Ward was at first surprised, then delighted, that Phipps cross-matched. "He's one of the most remarkable young men I've ever met," Ward said. "He is very modest about this but it means everything to me."
Almost as soon as he left post-op, Ward was on his feet to visit Phipps, who is 33. "I certainly do feel younger," quipped Ward, answering an unasked question.For his part, Phipps was surprised how easy the transplant process was. "We have a great team (at Methodist and the Methodist Transplant Center) that certainly made it easier for me," he said.
A living donor kidney is the best quality organ that a patient can receive, because the donor is tested thoroughly before being cleared to donate. Research shows that kidneys from living donors last longer; half of all living-donor kidneys can be functioning 25 years later, while about half of cadaver kidneys tend to fail within the first 10 years.
Most living-donor kidneys function immediately after transplantation, and Ward confirmed that. "When I woke up the morning after the surgery, I had way more clarity and felt great," he said. "I think it's the first time in 20 years that I've had normal kidney function."
And once he recovers from the surgery " about three to four weeks with no heavy lifting " Phipps will be back to normal. His body's remaining kidney will continue to function normally and compensate for the loss of the other kidney. "This is really a small sacrifice on my part," said Phipps. But Ward quickly added, "Heroic is what it is."
Grateful as he is, will Ward let Phipps' humanitarian act sway him when it comes time to evaluate this employee?
"Absolutely not," laughed the boss. "He's going to get a good review anyway " it helps that he is already a superb employee."
For more information about the Methodist Transplant Center, see http://www.methodistransplantcenter.com.
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