By JESSE CHANEY, Brush News-Tribune
A 1990 Brush High School graduate and current software developer in Littleton, Kevin sus-tained kidney damage after falling off a go-kart when he was a child. While still living in Brush with parents Wayne and Carol Carlson, he learned that he would eventually need a kidney trans-plant.
It wasn’t until about 20 years later that Kevin learned he would need to start dialysis or undergo surgery immediately to replace his severely malfunctioning kidney. He was told it could take three to five years to secure a kidney from a cadaver donor.
“I probably would have been fine on dialysis for that long, but it’s much better modality to ac-tually get a transplant,” he said. “You’re going to be much healthier.”
Both of his two brothers immediately began investigating whether they could donate one of their own kidneys to Kevin, and Randy was the first to get medical approval.
After a sequence of medical testing and counseling sessions, the Carlson brothers scheduled the transplant surgery for December 2008.
“Obviously it’s a huge gift, a huge sacrifice Randy gave for me, and I don’t take that lightly at all,” Kevin said.
A 1997 BHS graduate and U.S. Air Force scientist from Virginia, Randy said he had no reser-vations about donating the kidney to his older brother and would do it again if needed.
“The success rate of transplants is very high, so I wasn’t worried about that,” he said.
Even so, Kevin said the surgery might have been more painful for the donor because of the pro-cess used to extract his kidney.
“Surgery was probably actually harder on him than it was on me,” he said.
The Carlson brothers were only in the hospital for about three days after the surgery, and they were able to resume non-strenuous activity after about a month.
Now, two years later, Randy said he feels no different than before the surgery, and Kevin feels even better.
“I feel a lot better having a working kidney,” Kevin said. “ ... I feel strong. Everything is going wonderfully. The kidney is still performing as well as it did within a week of the surgery.”
Though both men are feeling as good as ever, they have had to make some slight adjustments as a result of the surgery. To prevent his immune system from rejecting his new kidney, Kevin has to take an immuno-suppressant once every 12 hours indefinitely. Because of the medications, he is at a greater risk of contracting serious illnesses from other people, such as his young daughter.
“If she would get chicken pox or shingles or the wrong type of virus, I would pretty much have to flee the house because it could be fatal to me,” he said. “Viruses are what I really have to watch out for.”
Kevin has to see a doctor for regular checkups every three months, though he sometimes had appointments even more frequently before the surgery. To ensure that his body is not rejecting the kidney, he also has to see a doctor every time he contracts a fever or the common cold.
“If you’re sick at all, they want to test you,” he said. “And, obviously, the more proactive you are, the better chance there is to treat the problem.”
As the donor, Randy has only had to make slight adjustments to his diet and avoid certain medicines. Specifically, he has been instructed to avoid Ibuprofen and refrain from eating too much salt.
“You can totally live a normal life with one kidney. I just have to be a little extra careful,” he said. “In general, it’s stuff that a normal human should do anyway.”
Kevin said statistics show that organ donors actually live longer than most people, probably be-cause they make healthy choices and must be in good physical condition to be selected for the pro-cedure.
Due in part to the success of the operation, both men have been able to accomplish much in the two years following the transplant. Kevin’s wife became pregnant with their first child while he was still on dialysis, he said, and Faith Randall Carlson was born in April 2009.
“She’s a miracle,” he said. “You’re not supposed to be able to have kids while you’re on dialy-sis.”
The girl’s first name reflects the Carlsons’ outlook as they faced the impending transplant, and her middle name pays homage to the uncle who literally gave a piece of himself to save her fa-ther’s life.
“That was something we really wanted to do with our firstborn, boy or girl, was to name her after Randy,” he said. “ ... He’s just a remarkable little brother.”
The surgery was held after Randy began pursuing a Ph.D. in astronomy at New Mexico State University, and he graduated with his doctorate earlier this month.
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