Stranger’s kidney donation shows blessings found in giving and receiving

December 23, 2008

Stranger’s kidney donation shows blessings found in giving and receiving

By Mike Foley
STAFF WRITER

The gift wasn’t wrapped pretty, but it did come with a hand-written card that said: “Merry Christmas.”

This gift was delivered Wednesday via surgeon, and there is absolutely no doubt it is the best Christmas present Michael Cheeks will ever receive.

In this season of giving, Zachary Sutton gave one of his kidneys to a man he’d never met until the day before surgery. It was a gift that made history.

Sutton, a Seneca resident studying to be a physician’s assistant at MUSC, is the first anonymous, live organ donor in the state of South Carolina. And to talk to Sutton, that’s no big deal.

“It doesn’t take an extraordinary person to do this,” Sutton said. “It takes a normal person to do this. I’m not a hero; I’m a normal guy.”

In fact, the self-proclaimed normal guy points out that it’s actually the kidney recipient who should receive accolades.

“Michael is a hero. He’s been on dialysis for 15 years,” Sutton said. “He’s faced needles and being on those machines three times a week while he’s raising a son. That to me is a hero.”

If that’s Sutton view, OK. But despite his protestations, Sutton is being heralded widely for his unselfish gift. Dr. Ken Chavin, a MUSC transplant surgeon, said Sutton’s donation is unique.

“This is the third Good Samaritan transplant we’ve ever done,” Chavin said. “But in the first two, the people involved had a previous connection.”

Chavin said a lot of people donate blood and plasma. He called a kidney donation, “a wonderful extension of that.”

“He’s an outstanding young man,” Chavin said. “This is an amazing gift of altruism. It’s phenomenal.”

Another person almost ready to vouch for Sutton’s sainthood is Linda Cheeks, Michael’s mother.

“This is like a dream,” she said, while sitting by Michael’s bedside Friday morning. “It’s hard to believe this is real. It’s the best Christmas present I could ever imagine.
“Michael’s got a brand new life.”

Change of heart

This new kidney comes with a backstory. Sutton had a grandmother who suffered from renal failure and then was on dialysis for nearly eight months until she died at the age of 89.

“I know what she went through,” Sutton said. “Dialysis is tough.”

What was also tough was having a classmate whose brother was in a car accident and fell into a coma. The family donated the victim’s organs.

“I’ll tell you, I had a negative view of it then,” Sutton admitted. “I was against it.”

But when he turned 16, and had the option of designating himself as an organ donor on his driver’s license, he researched organ donation. He decided to become an organ donor.

He went further. He donated blood and then bone marrow. And the triathlete wears a red rubber bracelet that says: “Donate then cremate.”

Sutton graduated from Clemson University with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and then discovered the life of a social sciences academic wasn’t what he truly wanted.

“I’d seen a physician’s assistant as my regular doctor my whole life,” he said. “That’s what I wanted to do when I first graduated from Clemson.”

He took science classes at Clemson and then applied to MUSC’s PA school, where he’s now in his first year of studies.

All along, he had the idea to donate one of his kidneys, and more research proved it is low-risk.

“Barring cancer or severe trauma, you’re fine with one kidney,” Sutton said. “And if it ever comes that I need a kidney, I hope someone will step up and help me.”

Sutton pointed out that MUSC is currently celebrating the 40th anniversary of its first living kidney donor surgery.

“That to me is amazing,” he said. “We need more people to sign up and donate because there are a lot more people like Michael out there.”

Ready to recover
Friday, two days after the surgery, both Michael and Zachary were doing fine.
“Everything is good,” Cheeks said during a short phone interview from his hospital bed. “I’m just a little sore.”

That’s something the Broome High School graduate was used to during his days playing fullback on the Centurion football team that went 9-3 his senior year and lost in the second-round of the state playoffs. His stellar play earned him a scholarship to Mars Hill College in North Carolina. But before he could attend, he became ill.

Undiagnosed high blood pressure had caused kidney failure, and Linda recalls being told her son was going to die within days.

In the hospital, that dire prognosis was changed, but the end result wasn’t much better.

“That broke his spirit,” she said. “He had to adjust his life to the dialysis.”

The 33-year-old Spartanburg resident worked off and on cleaning carpets, and taking care of his son, Drequan, 12, a student at the S.C. School for Deaf and Blind.

“He couldn’t do as much as he’d like,” Mrs. Cheeks said, “because the dialysis makes him so tired.”

But now, Cheeks said he’s ready to take on the world. When he first learned a guy he didn’t even know was willing to save his life, he didn’t know what to think.

“I was just overwhelmed,” Cheeks said. “I couldn’t believe it. The nurses told me how rare this was and how I couldn’t let this pass me by.”

Twice before Cheeks had a chance at a transplant, but both times he was too sick to have the surgery. Now, his “new best friend” has given him new life.

“I want to go back to school and learn to be a chef,” he said. “I’m so thankful for this chance to get my life back together.”

As for Sutton, he had a little scare after the surgery. Thursday, they discovered a blood clot was making his bladder swell. Surgery was successful.

“Everything’s good now,” Sutton said Friday. “They’re going to get me up and let me
walk today.”

Both patients were producing urine on Friday, which meant both kidneys were working well.

And while Cheeks will spend up to two more weeks in Charleston recovering, Sutton expected to be home by Christmas.

“I don’t have any regrets,” Sutton said. “None at all.”
Additional Facts
LEARN MORE

• Donate Life S.C. (www.donatelifesc.org) — Established by South Carolina law in 1996, Donate Life South Carolina, formerly Gift of Life Trust Fund, is a non-profit educational and charitable organization dedicated to promoting organ and tissue donation throughout South Carolina. Donate Life South Carolina also provides patient assistance to transplant recipients.

• LifePoint (www.lifepoint-sc.org) — LifePoint is the Organ Procurement Organization for organ recovery in South Carolina. LifePoint actively provides organ, tissue and ocular donor services to 62 hospitals throughout the state.

• LifeSharers (www.lifesharers.com) — LifeSharers is a non-profit national network of organ donors. LifeSharers members promise to donate upon their death, and they give fellow members first access to their organs. As of Nov. 30, 2008, there were 11,883 members in the LifeSharers network, including 179 in South Carolina.

• MatchingDonors (www.matchingdonors.com) — The organization charges a $595 membership fee for potential organ recipients. There are five S.C. residents seeking organ recipients. There are currently 5,406 registered Potential Donors on MatchingDonors.

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