St. Charles man gets new kidney from dad

St. Charles man gets new kidney from dad

By Dave Heun | Daily Herald Correspondent

Published: 11/23/2007 1:07 AM

Nearly three years ago, Andrew Wade figured he was a healthy 21-year-old man. But doctors told him he wasn't.

"I didn't have many symptoms, and I felt fine, but I did notice blood in my urine," said Wade, of St. Charles.

It would be the start of a couple of years of medication and dialysis as doctors tried to pinpoint what was causing his kidneys to malfunction.

It became a journey that culminated earlier this month with a kidney transplant operation at Loyola University Medical Center -- with Andrew's father, Jim, being the donor.

Even though Jim and Andrew, now 24, were both still recovering from the surgery, they -- along with mom Susan -- were hoping to celebrate Thanksgiving as a family with the renewed hope that Andrew would be fine. But a common setback during kidney transplant recovery sent Andrew back to the hospital Wednesday, so, Jim said, "We are planning our Thanksgiving for Saturday."

Physicians had pinpointed that Andrew suffered from IgA nephropathy, also known as Berger's disease. It is a kidney disorder that occurs when immunoglobulin A, or IgA -- a protein that fights infections -- settles in the kidneys.

The Mayo Clinic and National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Web sites report that the disease can be present in many people who might not realize it, and then after many years, the IgA deposits can cause the kidneys to leak blood and sometimes protein in the urine.

"It's a God-given thing, not something that was in my genes or anything like that. It's just one of those things that happens," Andrew said.

When it was explained that his immune system was basically attacking his kidneys, Andrew finally understood what was happening to him -- though his own explanation filtered out the medical terminology.

"They said it's bad, it's wrecking you and we have to fix it," Andrew said.

As Andrew began showing some skin discoloration common with kidney problems, the family turned to a six-month treatment regimen, of which Jim said, "Ninety-nine percent of the cases can be controlled with the treatment."

And then he added: "Andrew was the 1 percent who did not respond."

The next step was setting up the kidney transplant, which physicians at Loyola performed Nov. 1 after completing a battery of tests on Jim.

"They said they don't often see a 54-year-old man healthy enough to donate a kidney, so it was a good thing that I was, because apparently many are not," Jim said.

The setback this week started after a routine blood test had doctors concerned that maybe Andrew's body was rejecting the new kidney. Jim said a biopsy confirmed that a "mild rejection" was taking place, and Andrew went back to the hospital for medications.

"They are telling us it's pretty common at this stage and they don't appear overly concerned right now," Jim said late Wednesday night. "Everyone is thinking pretty positive at this point."

Even though he will be on medication the rest of his life, Andrew hopes to be back to normal soon and again studying at Elgin Community College.

Before the trip back to the hospital this week, Andrew knew what the whole process meant.

"I was starting to feel a little better, but I am not 100 percent," Andrew said. "It all depends on many factors, as this is not an exact science. They have to get my medications right, and they have to make sure my body does not reject the kidney."

Jim, who operates his own handyman service, has Christmas circled on his calendar as the day physicians feel he should be about 100 percent.

Even though there is no known cure for IgA nephropathy, Jim Wade knows Christmas came early for his family this year with the hope that Andrew will be fine with the gift of his new kidney.

"It went really well, and the doctors at Loyola were great," Jim said of the transplant. "As one of the student doctors said to my son, 'Dude, it was awesome.' "

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