NC man prepares for next chapter in his life

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NC man prepares for next chapter in his life

By DAVID ANDERSON JR.
Sanford Herald

Posted: 20 minutes ago

BROADWAY, N.C. — David Whitaker knows a thing or two about fighting.

The retired Air Force master sergeant spent more than 20 years battling America's enemies around the globe. After a full career in the military, he took a bottom-level job as a jailer and quickly rose through the ranks to become the top officer at the Lee County Jail.

Serving as a soldier in the Cold War and keeping rowdy inmates under control were simple jobs compared to the struggle Whitaker just fought.

The Sanford Herald reported that the 55-year-old Broadway resident has spent six years living without a kidney. In May, doctors at Duke University Hospital gave Whitaker a new kidney, along with a new hope for the future.

"It's really exciting because I think that once he retains his strength again, within about six months to a year I think they told us, he should be pretty much back to a normal life," said Lorraine Whitaker, David Whitaker's wife. "And that means our life back again."

David Whitaker grew up in Georgia and was drafted in 1971 while America was at war in Vietnam. He was able to get a job as an aircraft mechanic working on large jets, bombers and fuel tankers based in Europe.

"My dad was in the military for 20 years, in the Air Force, and I knew what it was all about," David Whitaker said. "I didn't particularly want to go, but I wasn't afraid of it either."

David Whitaker retired as a master sergeant in 1994. A few years later, he and his wife moved to Broadway to care for Lorraine Whitaker's aging mother.

David Whitaker commuted to Greensboro where he put his aeronautical science degree to use in the private sector.

"It was good pay, but it wasn't gratifying," he said.

David Whitaker quit the job to find something closer to home. He signed up with the sheriff's office.

"I started out as a regular jailer, went to school, got certified and all that," David Whitaker said. "In two years I was lieutenant."

While working at the jail, David Whitaker was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease - a genetic disorder that causes the kidneys to grow abnormally large and eventually leads to kidney failure. By the time doctors decided to remove David Whitaker's kidneys, his grandfather had already succumbed to the disease. His mother would die while he was in the hospital for surgery.

"I got it from my mother. She got it from her father. The evolution of the disease never misses a link. It hits every generation, and it hit me," David Whitaker said.

Patients with polycystic disease often don't experience any symptoms for decades, according to the National Institutes of Health. If one parent is a carrier for the disease, a child has a 50 percent chance of being affected.

Without kidneys, David Whitaker's body wasn't able to filter out toxins and waste from his blood stream or produce any urine. He had to undergo dialysis three times a week for four hours at a time. He tried to maintain his job at the jail, but the drain on his stamina made it nearly impossible.

All at once, David Whitaker had gone from being an avid sportsman who enjoyed fishing, hunting, skiing, scuba diving and flying to a man totally dependent on machines just to stay alive.

"You can't know what is in store for you in life," he said. "All you can do is pray you make the right decisions."

David Whitaker said the best decision he made was marrying Lorraine.

While her husband was living on dialysis, Lorraine Whitaker has worked two jobs to pay their bills and kept their home meticulously clean - a precaution made necessary by David Whitaker's crippled immune system.

David Whitaker was hospitalized again and again over the years following complications from his first surgery. Three times he received a phone call from doctors saying they had found a kidney for him, only to find out later that the organ wasn't a perfect match and had been given to another patient. Then on May 17, at 10 p.m., the fourth call came.

"I got there and the next morning, I had a new kidney," David Whitaker said.

David Whitaker said he was extremely grateful for the new organ, but the idea that someone else died to give him a new shot at life was hard to deal with.

"That didn't sit with me very well. I'm a good Christian and I believe in donorship, but once you get on that (line of thought) it's hard to get off of it," David Whitaker said. "It just didn't sit with me right."

David Whitaker said without the support of his wife and family, he couldn't have lived through the past six years.

"I hate it for all the people out there that don't have someone to help them through, that are alone," Lorraine Whitaker said.

"You can't do it," David Whitaker said. "Impossible."

David Whitaker hopes to be able to return to work within the next year, giving his wife the opportunity to work less and finish her nursing degree.

Lorraine Whitaker is excited about the freedom her husband now has. Because his life was dependent on regular dialysis treatments, their family hasn't been able to leave their home for more than one day at a time.

"We could actually maybe take a vacation, which we haven't been able to do," she said. "We'll see how things go. We're still going to take it one day at a time."

The Whitakers still make weekly trips to Duke for checkups, and David Whitaker is getting used to taking a barrage of more than two dozen pills everyday to keep his body and kidney working together.

While her husband says she is the reason he is still alive, Lorraine Whitaker says she has found strength and encouragement watching him do all he can to stay healthy and make it through the process.

"My faith in God has kept me going, and my love for my husband and my family," she said. "He would do the same for me."

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Information from: The Sanford Herald

http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/5500602/