Bikers raise $6,500 for kidney transplant

Bikers raise $6,500 for kidney transplant

Tue, 11/04/2008 - 5:18pm
By: John Munford

Bikers raise $6,500 for kidney transplant

A motorcycle benefit to help a local emergency dispatcher raised more than $6,500 Saturday, organizers said.

The event was designed to help Holly Chambers, a 12-year veteran dispatcher for the Fayette County 911 Center. Chambers, 33, has been diagnosed with lupus and after two long-term rounds of chemotherapy is facing a kidney transplant in the near future.

Chambers was overcome with emotion seeing so many people attend the event.

“I’m overwhelmed, very overwhelmed,” Chambers said. “It’s amazing. People are so kind.”

Lupus is an autoimmune disease which basically causes the body to attack itself, said Chambers, who is a Fayette native and a 1994 graduate of McIntosh High School. She was first diagnosed 12 years ago after having seizures that led to a two-week hospital stay while doctors tried to figure out the problem.

“It’s a lot worse than what she makes it sound,” said her husband Clay.

Lupus causes a lot of fatigue, Chambers said, making her feel tired, worn out and “older than I am.”

“I’m tired all the time. People make fun of me because I nap constantly. They call and are like, ‘are you still sleeping?’”

That can become challenging when keeping up with her 9-year-old son, Caden, which she does often when Clay is out of town, he said.

The once-monthly chemotherapy treatments, which kept her sick for several days at a time, were designed to remove dead tissue from her kidneys, Chambers explained. It did the trick, but left too much scar tissue for any more improvement to occur.

Chambers found out in August that she needs the kidney transplant and she’s currently in the process of getting relatives tested, including Clay, her mother and her brother.

“I’ve known forever that one day I would need a transplant, but it came quicker than I hoped it would,” Chambers said, adding that it was “overwhelming” and “scary.”

Friends can also arrange at a later date to be tested to see if they are a match to donate a kidney, she confirmed. Her recovery from the surgery is expected to be four to six weeks, and she will be on medication for the rest of her life as a result.

“But, I should be able to feel better than I have in 12 years, so I’m very excited,” Chambers said.

Chambers said she was particularly grateful for the outpouring of care directed at her family.

“I do appreciate everything that everybody has done for me and all the hard work and time that people have taken out of their day to be here and spend time with me and my family,” she said.

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