Friend donates his kidney to man with genetic kidney disease

Monday, April 05, 2004

April is National Donate Life Month, but Clifford Couser didn't know about an annual designation when he become an organ donor. His friend desperately needed a kidney, and Couser discovered he was a match. Last month two of his other friends, transplant surgeons at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, took part in the living-donor transplant between Couser and Stephen Wiggins.

Normally the fist-sized human kidneys weigh 10 to12 ounces each. Wiggins had polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a common cause of kidney failure and the most common of all life-threatening genetic disorders. Because of the disease, Wiggins' kidneys had ballooned to an alarming 10 and 12 pounds respectively. "They were so big, he couldn't eat," says Mayo Clinic transplant surgeon Dr. Christopher Hughes. "They took up his whole abdomen. His intestine was so compressed by these kidneys that it pushed up on his diaphragm and made it hard for him to breathe."

Wiggins, 41, was diagnosed with PKD at age 27 after a physical exam revealed dangerously high blood pressure, a common sign of PKD. For years Wiggins religiously controlled his hypertension with diet and medications. About two and a half years ago, his abdomen started to swell as cysts on his kidneys grew and multiplied. Last fall he was hospitalized with double pneumonia. He recovered but believes the medications for pain and fever were too much for his kidneys to handle. Their function decreased markedly.

Kidney transplantation became his only hope. Given his condition, going on dialysis until a cadaveric organ became available was not the best option. The search for a living donor began. None of Wiggins' family members were a match. His wife turned to the couple's church family. One night, Clifford Couser heard the choir director's plea. "He said, 'We need to pray. Stephen needs a kidney. He's O positive, '" Couser recalls. "As soon as I heard that, I heard, 'You are a perfect match.' I turned white. It really freaked me out. I don't hear God speak to me like that very often. I just sat there. I didn't say anything." — MORE — Before Couser could tell his wife that he believed he was meant to be the donor, she'd already told Wiggins she wanted to donate if she could. Stephanie Couser went through the evaluation process, but an anomaly in one kidney made her a poor choice.

Clifford Couser was the next person to undergo the lengthy evaluation process. "He passed through every single step with no problem," Hughes says, "all the way down to the anatomy of his kidneys being perfect to allow us to use one of them for donation."

Hughes and Dr. Darrin Willingham are members of Wiggins' church family. They interrupted their vacations to lead the team performing the recipient surgery. Once they removed Wiggins' diseased kidneys, a second transplant team, led by Dr. Winston Hewitt, lararoscopically removed Couser's left kidney. "With smaller incisions and shorter recovery times, the vast majority of donors are out of the hospital in one or two days after the donation process," Hewitt says. "This has actually increased the donation rates since convalescence time is far shorter than it used to be."

Two weeks after their surgeries, both men took time out from errands and appointments to share thoughts about the experience. "God was saying this is an opportunity for you to do My will," Causer says. "He let me decide if I would be obedient or not. It didn't really cost me anything but some discomfort."

"All I can do is thank you from the bottom of my heart," Wiggins says, "and pray that God will shower Heaven on you, because He can give you so much more than I can ever give you."

According to the national database maintained by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, nearly 43 percent of all kidney donations in 2003 were from living donors. Still, 3,275 people died last year waiting for a kidney In Northeast Florida, those interested in learning more about organ and tissue donation may call Life Quest Organ Recovery Services at (800) 535-GIVE.

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