A full life waiting for a kidney transplant

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A full life waiting for a kidney transplant

By Mary Madewell

Published March 5, 2009

Wesley Williams, 54, has an undying desire to live.

And he is living today thanks to modern day dialysis treatments while awaiting a kidney transplant that was scheduled this past week.

The transplant didn’t take place.

Instead, Williams had an enlarged spleen removed. Dallas physicians were alerted to the spleen problem, which triggered a low white blood count, making it impossible to perform the kidney transplant Williams has been waiting on for more than three years.

His wife, Norma Williams, said her husband will remain at the top of the transplant list, and hopefully will be rescheduled for surgery within the next six months.

Despite ongoing health problems since 1993, if asked how he’s doing, Williams answers, “I can’t complain.”

While undergoing a dialysis treatment at Fresenius Medical Care, 110 S. Collegiate St. on Wednesday, Williams talked about his will to live and his mission to help others.

“I have got too much yet to do in my short life,” Williams said. “I believe the Lord has things yet for me to do.”

Other than be a husband and father and faithful church member, Williams said he has a desire to tell others to take better care of themselves early in life to avoid “being in this chair I am in right now.”

“I can encourage others to lose weight and take care of their health,” Williams said. “You can change your eating habits; you just have to take control of the situation.”

But he knows people are inclined to put things off to another day.

“Until things started happening to me, I would always say I would fix it tomorrow,” Williams, a long-time Paris resident, said. He has spent the past 16 years as a North Lamar custodian in addition to owning his own lawn care and cleaning business.

The dialysis patient said he also tries to help fellow patients by encouraging them to follow the strict diet dietician Karen Hopper prescribes and to show up for every dialysis treatment.

“Patients listen to him better than they do me because he is one of them,” Hopper said. “I would say he is our star patient.”

The husband and father began his battle to live in 1993 when he had an initial heart attack and Paris physicians put in a stint. That was followed in 1996 and 1998 by additional cardiovascular procedures followed by triple by-pass surgery in January 2002. He then suffered complete kidney failure in September 2005.

High blood pressure, excess weight and Type II diabetes are the risk factors Williams said put him in the dialysis chair where he spends 15 hours a week.

“I go to work about 5:15 every morning and finish after lunch and then I come here three days a week,” Williams said. “When I am not here, I am mowing yards or cleaning offices.”

By following a strict diet and coming for regular treatments, most dialysis patients can live a normal life.

But regular treatments are the key for patients suffering kidney failure.

The Fresenius Medical Care Center in Paris serves more than 100 patients daily. The center also offers free seminars to inform at-risk patients and their families about chronic kidney disease and treatment. Anyone interested in attending should contact Misty Curtis at 903-784-1989.

“This would be a good month to learn more about kidney disease,” Hopper said. March is kidney disease awareness month.

http://theparisnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=3a528d83c352bd9f