Giving the gift of life

[okarol]

Giving the gift of life

By Tracy Agnew
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 9:17 PM CDT


When Pebbles Chapman was involved in an auto accident her senior year of high school, it set off a chain reaction of events that has yet to end.

However, it is scheduled to end later this month, when an old co-worker will donate a kidney to spare Chapman’s life.

Here’s how it all began:

Pebbles Chapman was riding the school bus two weeks before her Lakeland High School graduation when the bus was involved in an accident. Although she had no obvious injuries, she felt dizzy, so the paramedics took her to the hospital for observation.

As it turned out, the dizziness had nothing to do with the bus accident. Her blood pressure was sky-high n so high that the doctors feared the teenager would have a stroke or go into a coma.

“That bus accident turned out to be a good thing for me,” she said.

After numerous tests, Chapman learned that she was in end stage renal failure, meaning that her kidneys had lost nearly all of their function because of her high blood pressure.

“High blood pressure killed my kidneys,” she said.

A week later, a surgeon came into her room at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters to insert a catheter for dialysis. After she refused out of fear, the surgeon left and came back with a doctor, who told her, “If you don’t start dialysis, in two weeks you’ll be dead.”

“I’m supposed to graduate in two weeks,” Chapman recalls thinking.

She started dialysis, going for four hours three days a week for four years, all the while working two jobs and attending ITT Tech for a criminal justice degree. She hid the dialysis from most people and tried to maintain normalcy.

About two years ago, while working at Wal-Mart in downtown Suffolk, Chapman met a new co-worker, Chatearia Wilson. When Wilson found out Chapman would need a kidney transplant to survive, she said, “I’ll give you one.”

“I played it off,” said Chapman. “Everybody tells you that like they’re joking.”

Time went by. Chapman’s two sisters were tested for a match. Her younger sister didn’t match. Her older sister, who currently serves in the U.S. Army, was a match, but her blood pressure was too high for surgeons to allow her to be a donor.

Meanwhile, Wilson was accompanying Chapman to most of her doctor appointments.

“I called her one day and asked what she was doing,” said Wilson. “She said, ‘I’m busy writing my will.’ I said, ‘Writing your what?’”

“I got so upset. She’s so energetic and so Pebbles that the thought of her not being around anymore upset me.”

It was after that phone call that Wilson decided to be tested for a match. Soon after, they got the results — they were a perfect match.

Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of tests, CAT scans, abdominal scans, blood drawings and more. Although Chapman is nervous, Wilson says she’s not, even though the surgeons have told her that the surgery will be harder on her than it will be on Chapman.

“I’ll be going from having two healthy kidneys to only one,” she said. On the other hand, Chapman’s kidney function will improve.

And there’s more good news for Chapman n since Wilson is a living donor, she should be able to end dialysis immediately after the surgery. With a donor who was dead when the organs were removed, she would have to continue dialysis for a while until the transplanted kidney kicked in.

Adding to the celebration is that Chapman’s sister, the one serving in the Army, will be able to come home from Iraq for the surgery because it is considered a family emergency.

“I’m excited but nervous,” said Chapman. “Hopefully nothing changes.”

Everything still looks good, and the surgery is scheduled for July 24 n a week after Chapman’s birthday.

“Thanks,” she said, looking at Wilson. “Now you don’t have to get me anything.”

tracy.agnew@suffolknewsherald.com

http://www.suffolknewsherald.com/articles/2007/07/04/news/news3.txt