Salinas woman prepares for fourth kidney transplant

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Salinas woman prepares for fourth kidney transplant
11:12 PM, Sep. 30, 2011  |   Comments

Fear and hope lingered in John Arthur's living room.

It's time for his sister, Salinas resident Martha Robison, and their tightly knit family to face together yet one more life-and-death challenge.

"Tragedy either splinters a family or it brings it close," said Robison, 58. "We've always been a close family."

The hope in the living room came from that closeness, the fear from the uncertainties that go hand-in-hand with any major surgery.

Come Oct. 13, Robison, for the fourth time, will be wheeled into an operating room to undergo a kidney transplant.

In each previous surgery, a sibling donated the kidney. This time, the donor is Valerie Walker, Robison's niece.

Walker, 28, is an office worker at the Monterey County Sheriff's Department.

"I was the best match for the transplant, and I was prepared to do it," Walker said.

Final blood work is Thursday, with the surgery set at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, renowned for such transplants.

"I'm holding my own, but this will be the hardest one because it's my niece," Robison said. "That's tearing all of us up."

Officials at UCSF have told Robison that one person receiving four kidneys all from donors within his or her own family is highly unusual.

The start of the struggle
Robison was 13 when she first suffered kidney failure. That was in 1965.

Her father was in the Army and was ordered to Panama during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Three years later, the family returned to Fort Ord.

Shortly after, Robison's parents noticed that their daughter was perpetually fatigued. Her ankles were swollen. Doctors believed it was kidney disease brought on by untreated strep throat.

There were other theories, too, said Dorothy Walker, who is Martha's sister and Valerie's mother. One was exposure to DDT. The pesticide had been spread liberally in Panama to control the insect population.

"The jungle was in our backyard," Walker said. "The kids used to chase after the trucks that were spraying it."

Soon Robison needed dialysis and then a kidney transplant.

That was 1971 at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. The donor was Burt F. Arthur III, Robison's oldest brother.

Transplant technology was then in its infancy. Walter Reed had done only 10 such procedures before attendants rolled Martha's gurney into the operating room.

Burt now lives in Alabama. He's a retired Army command sergeant major and is in good health, Robison said.

A tradition of helping
For various reasons, even the best kidney matches can fail over time.

By 1987, Martha needed a second transplant. That kidney came from John Arthur, who also remains in excellent health.

In 1996, Martha Robison got her third kidney, from her sister, Mary Irvine. Mary, 61, a Salinas resident, died in January of causes unrelated to the transplant, family members said.

Now it's Valerie Walker who's stepping forward as the best match.

"Of course I'm apprehensive," Dorothy Walker said. "I don't want my sister to die. I want her to have this opportunity for life.

"At the same time, I wish it wasn't Valerie, and yet I'm so proud of what she's doing for Martha."

Those same sentiments factor strongly into Robison's own thinking and concerns, Robison said.

Getting ready
Martha Robison wore a blue denim jacket and tan slacks. It was a warm fall morning, and she settled onto a large soft couch. She felt relatively good for the moment.

Some days, though, she's fatigued, too drained of energy to get out of bed.

To compensate for her failing kidney, Robison undergoes dialysis three times weekly for 3 1/2 hours each time.

Dialysis filters impurities from the blood because the remaining kidney is failing and can no longer perform that vital task.

At the dialysis center, Robison sits among some 30 others. Each is tethered to a machine. Collectively the machines generate a loud background noise. Because the room is cold and the dialysis procedure makes her cold, Robison wears sweaters and a hat.

After the treatment, her husband, Larry, a truck mechanic, picks her up.

Life's value
As time ticks away and brings the hour of the transplant closer, Robison turns to her family and they to her.

There's Larry, her support on each step of her journey. There's their daughter, Leslie, and all the other members of the family.

She's never asked one for help, yet all have offered it.

There's Valerie's twin sister Dawn, and John Arthur and his wife, Phyllis, and Burt in Alabama and another brother, Jack Arthur, who was also tested.

Robison turns to prayer and to her church, Salinas Valley Community Church. She finds both church and prayer are powerful sources of strength.

She and Valerie can expect to stay from three to seven days in the hospital. Soon after the transplant, the two stand and move about.

"With every transplant, my sibling's goal has been to walk to my room and say, 'I love you,' " Robison said.

A new kidney is truly a gift of life, Robison said.

Soon after the transplant, as the new kidney begins to function, the body's energy level climbs. Circulation improves. Pinkness of complexion replaces pallor.

"You feel warm," she said.

Appreciation of life in all its rich detail is never more keen, she said. Once healing takes hold, simple things take on great meaning.

"Sometimes I'll just find a patch of green grass and put down a blanket and sit there," Robison said. "It's wonderful."

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