Wife gifts life-saving kidney transplant to husband
No present Cathy Grieves gives her husband Sunday will surpass the gift she’s already given him.
|
|
Cathy Grieves, left, and her husband Eric pose Friday in shirts given to them by the Ohio State University medical staff following a kidney transplant this summer. Mrs. Grieves donated a kidney to her husband about six months after he was forced on dialysis for kidney disease. (EXAMINER PHOTO | NATE SMITH)Eric Grieves is in much better physical shape this Christmas than last because of the healthy kidney his wife donated to him in a successful procedure this summer.
Mr. Grieves lived with and endured the symptoms of an autoimmune kidney disease for about 15 years that eventually left his kidneys inoperable, Mr. Grieves explains.
“I had been treated for years for symptoms related to the disease such as high blood pressure, but never the disease itself,” he said.
Over time, the nephropathy rendered his kidneys “dead,” he said.
“In January I thought I had the flu. I was so sick for weeks,” Mr. Grieves said Friday from the couple’s rural DeGraff home. “Jan. 16 I woke Cathy up at about two in the morning and told her we I needed to go to the hospital.”
It was at Lima Memorial Hospital the couple learned that Mr. Grieves, 50, had end stage renal disease. Doctors considered Mr. Grieves kidneys essentially useless. He was put on dialysis immediately. Bedridden treatments lasted nine hours or better and involved restricting fluid bags.
Mr. Grieves worked through those treatments, maintaining employment as an electrician for ConAgra at the company’s Troy facility.
“I’d have his dialysis treatments all ready so that when he got home from work he could begin those treatments and go right to bed and at least try to sleep,” Mrs. Grieves said.
Exploring a potential kidney transplant between spouses began shortly after Mr. Grieves was diagnosed. Confirming that Mrs. Grieves, 49, could donate one of her kidneys to her husband was an extended process that involved multiple blood tests and a meeting with a licensed social worker, Mrs. Grieves said.
The couple explains they were in the parking lot at the Bellefontaine Lowe’s store on July 13 when medical staff from Ohio State University confirmed a kidney match and called to schedule an appointment.
Read complete story Saturday’s Examiner.
CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
WEB EDITION STARTING AT $9.50 FOR 5 WEEKS!