Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
According to the Organ Donor website organdonor.gov more than 90,000 Americans are awaiting kidney transplants. One of those people is Green Bank resident Nick Gum.
Nick’s kidney troubles began at birth. He was born prematurely on an icy night in Charlottesville, Virginia. The ice storm led to a power outage in the city, but it didn’t keep Nick from entering the world with a determination that he carries with him today.
“The evening he was born, they came in and told us he wasn’t going to live through the night,” Nick’s mom Vida said. “They said he had zero chance of survival. They said that they would make sure he got with us before he died. They said he wouldn’t make it through the night.
“He did… he did.”
Nick was born with poly cystic kidney disease. His right kidney was covered with cysts and was not functioning at all. It was removed when he was 11 days old.
“His left kidney was still functioning,” Vida said. “Back then it was sixty-two percent, which was enough. You can live with that, but as he got older and went through puberty and into adulthood, his body needed more, and his kidney just deteriorated. That’s how we ended up where we are now.”
Nick is now 31 and was doing fine, all things considered, until this past February when his blood pressure got high. That was a signal to the family that something was wrong with his kidney.
“He’s functioning right now at twelve percent,” Vida said.
Nick’s wife, Tessa Himelrick said that the doctors said most people go on dialysis when their kidney is at 15 percent, but at this moment, Nick is staying off dialysis.
“We’re hoping for a kidney before that,” Nick said.
The amazing thing is, Nick has been healthy enough to continue his daily routines, including going to work at Seneca State Forest, while he waits for a donor to come forward.
“People ask me all the time, ‘why are you still working?’” he said. “Just kind of keeps my mind off things.”
“He doesn’t have any effects from it,” Tessa said.
Nick must stick to a strict diet and monitor his blood pressure, but otherwise, he would appear to be in good health.
Since February, the family has been working on getting tested to see if they are viable donors. With kidneys, especially for someone in Nick’s situation, it is better to have a live donation.
For some, a kidney from a deceased donor is an option, but it would take the kidney longer to “wake up” and do its job.
The testing process is rigorous and begins with contacting the University of Virginia Transplant Center. A packet is sent out and once it is returned, the possible donor is tested.
Nick’s doctors at UVA in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Vida explained that some of the testing for possible donors must be done on site at the hospital.
One possible donor is Nick’s sister, Chelsea, who is flying in from Vienna, Austria, to be tested.
“They said they would take blood from both of us and kind of mix it and see what happens,” Nick said.
Although Chelsea has the same blood type as Nick, there are other factors to ensure that her kidney will acclimate to Nick.
If Chelsea isn’t a match for Nick but is still willing to do a live donation to someone she does match, then Nick will have a better chance to get a kidney from someone else.
Many of Nick’s family members have been tested and Vida is still waiting to find out if she is a match, as well.
With a live donation, Nick said the kidney will last 10 to 15 years, or longer if he takes care of his health. The doctors told him that when they do the surgery, they will leave his left kidney where it is, and it will eventually die and not function at all.
For someone who has already been through several procedures, Nick remains calm and certain that he will have another procedure in the near future that will see him receive a kidney.
“He’s been through it,” Vida said. “He’s a fighter.”
The Gum family shared the following facts about living donations:
• Living donors can help significantly reduce wait times for those in need of a transplant.
• Donors are not responsible for medical costs.
• Donors don’t have to be biological family. One in four donors is not related to the recipient.
• Living donation has better outcomes.
• Healthy adults can become living kidney donors if they are between 18 and 70 years old and are willing to donate.
• Kidney donation requires evaluations and tests.
• If the transplant teams find the person in good health, they can choose to donate a kidney.
• It must be voluntary; one the person makes without pressure or coercion.
Those interested in learning more about live donation may contact UVA Transplant Center at uvahealth.com/livingdonation or at 800-543-8814 or 434-924-8604.
