CABOT, Ark. – It’s a week before Christmas and a Cabot woman has already given her son a priceless gift, a kidney.
Kenneth Grantham, who goes by Chase, was diagnosed with IGA Nephropathy, which is a non-curable kidney disease, in February 2012.
Grantham said he has been doing treatment and felt good for years. However, this year his kidneys became life-threatening, and a transplant was needed.
“It put me out of work once I started dialysis and those 4 months it was a real setback mentally and physically,” Grantham said.
His mother Karen Wright said they had several setbacks with the transplant surgery due to medical reasons.
However, in November they finally got the approval for the surgery set for Dec. 3 at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences (UAMS) in Little Rock. When KARK 4 News spoke with them before the surgery, Wright said she never thought twice about donating her kidney.
“It’s something a mom does. Do you know people say, ‘How could you do that,’ and I say, ‘How could you not do that?’” she said. “It’s your kid, it’s what you’re supposed to do.”
They both said the day of the surgery was “surreal.”
“Right before she was rolled back, I asked to see her and I walked to her room and gave her a hug,” Grantham said.
Their transplant surgeon said the surgery took at least three hours. They both said when they woke up, they felt relief.
“I got a kidney in there that’s working,” Grantham said.
Grantham said he could already tell the difference.
“I feel healthy, feel like my body is working like it should and I’m glad to be here,” he said.
He also said he is ready to play more with his son without having to fear getting hurt since he was on dialysis. Grantham is also looking forward to spending Christmas with his whole family.
“We’re not going to have to think about me being sick, we might both be limping around but it’s not going to be the elephant in the room like it’s been for a decade,” Grantham said.
He said he is forever grateful for his entire family including his mom who gifted him with a second chance at life.
“We all need each other,” Wright said.
“I hate to say I would do it again but I would,” Grantham said. “I wouldn’t be the same person sitting here now. I wouldn’t look at life the way I did like I said it’s been a massive blessing. Me and my mom couldn’t be closer.”
Their transplant surgeon at UAMS, Dr. Martha Estrada, said family members are donors about half of the time and UAMS did 166 kidney transplants last year.
Nationally, over 100,000 people are on the organ transplant list, according to the Human Resources and Services Administration.