Jameak Lee has had a son for 12 years, but this Father's Day will be the first one that he feels like a full-time dad.
When his son, Justin, was born, Lee was getting sicker and sicker from kidney disease.
Lee said he missed so much of his son's life, because requisite dialysis treatment every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after work kept him from attending Justin's Christmas plays and other school activities.
When Justin asked why his father's arm would pulsate really fast (his artery and vein were sewn together to facilitate dialysis), Lee told the boy he had a bionic arm.
"I never told him much, and my mother-in-law said, 'What if you go to the hospital someday and don't come back?' So I finally told him I was sick, and that I needed a transplant."
He got a new kidney four months ago through the Organ Donor Network, and now Lee, of Mount Hope, has "a new outlook on life, a second chance."
Lee, 37, a paraprofessional for the Board of Education who is on leave, spoke on Monday after he had just gotten a good report from Dr. Vaughn Whittaker, a transplant surgeon at St. Luke's Hospital who performed Lee's operation.
"There were so many challenges to getting him transplanted," said Whittaker, adding that a team of doctors, nurses and social workers were involved. "He learned to roll with it."
Lee had been undergoing dialysis for 10 years. He had been sick since 1995. His legs would swell up with fluid and his kidneys weren't filtering the toxins from his blood.
One time, Lee was down South visiting family, and got on a plane when Whittaker told him there was a kidney available, but it didn't work out.
Another time, Lee was told there was a kidney, but he had an infection and the surgery wasn't possible at the time.
Finally, last Valentine's Day, a "beautiful," "perfect," healthy kidney became available, the surgeon said.
"It was from a 27-year-old man, who had died a traumatic death, and his family was gracious enough to donate it," said Whittaker.
"Now Jameak is off dialysis and he's doing great, he looks great," said Whittaker.
"He wants to be strong for his kid."
"We think of our relationship with our transplant patients as a marriage and we never get divorced," Whittaker said. He will see Lee less and less, eventually only once a year.
"This is such an amazing story; they're all amazing stories and it's in our power to make these stories happen," said Elaine Berg, president of the New York Organ Donor Network.
She said the Empire State ranks 48th - 48th - out of the 50 states for number of living donors.
"So few people sign up in New York; I guess it's because New Yorkers are so busy, they have so much on their plate," said Berg.
She urges everyone to at least sign the back of their driver's license, so that they can posthumously donate.
I looked at mine and found that when I renewed it I had forgotten to sign the "anatomical gift" box on the new one.
After hearing Jameak Lee's story, you may want to check your license and make sure it's signed on the back, too.
"When you pass away, you're giving someone a second chance at all the things they wanted to do," said Lee. "You'll give people so much hope."
0 COMMENTS:
Post a Comment