An act of kindness: Kalamazoo woman donates kidney

An act of kindness: Kalamazoo woman donates kidney to fellow member of Calvary Bible Church

Kalamazoo Gazette March 18, 2008 08:15PM

By Jeff Barr
jbarr@kalamazoogazette.com
388-8581

KALAMAZOO -- Jim Cool speaks of prevailing peace, Kathy Edwards, of a call to "step up to the plate." Their spouses, Marcia Cool and Steve Edwards, call the experience "a great time."

The two 60ish couples, speaking Monday in the Cools' Oshtemo Township home, were not describing the seventh-inning stretch or a St. Patrick's Day party.

Three weeks ago, Kathy Edwards gave her left kidney to Jim Cool, whose own kidneys had faltered to the point of less than 15 percent of their original function. He had been on a national waiting list for two years, knowing that a transplant was necessary to save his life.

"Throughout the ups and downs of the whole process, of having donors offer their kidneys that looked like they were matches only to find out they weren't, I was at peace," said Cool, 59. "My faith in Jesus Christ is what has carried me through this. His power has been my strength."

The Cools and Edwards are not related, at least not in an earthly sense. But the longtime members of Calvary Baptist Church in Kalamazoo call themselves "brothers and sisters in the family of God." Jim and Kathy may not be blood relatives, but after she was tested for kidney compatibility, doctors at University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor told her she was "a perfect match."

By the time she received that phone call, Edwards' decision had already been made.

"When I heard that Jim needed a kidney, and that there had been trouble finding a suitable donor, one thought kept going through my mind," she said. "What if my husband or someone I loved or cared about was in this situation? How much would I hope that someone would step up to the plate for them.

"I prayed about it, discussed it with Steve, and felt called by God that this was something I needed to do."

Cool has suffered from Wegener's disease for 20 years. The affliction causes his immune system to be overactive, attacking his vascular system and ultimately destroying his kidneys, through which the blood is filtered.

Doctors didn't offer him a timeline when they told him in 2006 that a transplant was necessary, but "they made it clear that there wasn't any other option that would keep me from going on dialysis." It never reached that point, even after five donors initially appeared to meet the necessary medical criteria only to fall short for one reason or another.

A week before his first scheduled surgery, Jim found out he couldn't receive his first donor's kidney because his disease had flared up six weeks before. Doctors will not perform the operation unless Wegener's Disease is in remission for at least six months. Before the surgery could be re-scheduled, the original donor changed his mind.

Four more willing donors matched Jim's type-O blood -- either O-positive or negative would have worked -- but one by one they were deemed medically risky. The kidneys of three potential donors were not functioning at the necessary 80 percent, and they were eliminated from consideration. Another -- Kathy Bowman, a Calvary Bible Church member -- was willing to give, her kidneys were functional, but the fact that she had more than one artery and vein running through them made the surgery more risky.

"All the arteries and veins need to be reconnected, and most people only have one of each," Cool said. "The doctors told me it would have been a much more complicated procedure if I would have received Kathy (Bowman's) kidney."

As Cool was pondering the decision -- two hours after hearing of the impending complications -- Kathy Edwards called to say she was willing to be tested for compatibility.

She received news on Nov. 21 from U-M doctors that she was a "perfect match." By that time, her mind was made up.

"I asked if they were going to call Jim to tell him," said Edwards, 60. "They told me, 'No, you are.'

"That was a phone call I didn't mind making."

Edwards made the call, one day before Thanksgiving, to inform Cool of the news.

"By then, I had learned not to get too excited because of all the other times it appeared that I had a suitable donor," Cool said. "But there was a peace. Somehow I knew, in the Lord's time, He would make this would work."

The surgeries were performed Feb. 27. Edwards was on the operating table from 7 to 11:30 a.m., Cool from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Family members and friends congregated in the waiting room during the 6 1/2 hours, but there was no anxiety.

"No one was worried," said Marcia Cool. "We knew it was in God's hands.

"It actually was a great time," said Steve Edwards, 60. "We had food and fellowship. It was peaceful."

The peace prevails today. Jim Cool stayed in the hospital for five days after surgery, and Kathy Edwards, four. They are both sore from the operations, but they are mending. Kathy, who owns Quilts Plus in Kalamazoo's Westwood Plaza, will go back to work in mid-April.; Jim has been retired from General Motors from since 1999. "I'm not going back," he said with a laugh.

"I am so grateful to Kathy for what she has done for me," Jim Cool said. "She was called by the Lord to do this. I feel that Jesus Christ has reached out his hand to me through Kathy.

"Any time you are a recipient of God's work, it is humbling -- an experience I can't describe."

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/03/an_act_of_kindness_kalamazoo_w.html