A Kidney for Carl

We are a little over our one month post surgery date. I'm happy to report that Carl is doing well. He continues to get his strength back and is ready to be outside during the nice weather. The docs are still adjusting his anti rejection meds and he gets lab work done twice a week. This will continue through May and then the frequency will diminsh as time goes on. We are still working through a low blood pressure issue but there are meds for that! He has passed his physi...cal to drive his race car and will probably be ready for racing in early fall. He is really looking forward to getting back out on the track. In the meantime, he's spending his time in the garage "tinkering" with the car. Thank you again to everyone who is keeping him in their prayers. We sincerely appreciate it and honestly believe in the power of prayer. God Bless You All. See more

I am thrilled to report that Carl came through his surgery with flying colors! He now has a new kidney that he has named "Sparky". I'm really not sure what was behind the name but I'm going to go with him having a new spark on life! LOL. Seriously though, the surgeon, nurses, support staff and everyone at Hershey Medical Center were awesome. I can't tell you how grateful we are to our living donor angel. I had an opportunity to sit with her husband today and just talk a...bout families, jobs, interests, etc. What an amazing young woman to give of herself (literally) to someone whom she has never met. We will be forever grateful for the positive power of social media and all of our friends and family who have shared our story and prayed with us for a successful transplant. Without all of you, we would not be able to celebrate this success story. We ask for your continued prayers as our donor angel and Carl work their way through recovery. It's not going to be easy nor will it be quick but oh, how it will be worth it for everyone. Thank you Lord for keeping all of us safe and watching over us on this very special day. Amen See more

Please send all your good thoughts, prayers and well wishes to Carl, our living donor and the entire surgical staff this morning and through the next several weeks!

Just a quick update... our visit with the team on Wednesday went well. We spent about an hour and a half with the surgeon discussing the process and getting all of our questions answered. Carl will be pre-admitted to the hospital on Monday, 2/22 and will have a Covid test. Surgery should start around 9:30am on Tuesday and will take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours. I will be able to be in the hospital surgical waiting room for when he's done. He will be in ICU for 2 days so th...ey can monitor his output and make sure the new kidney is working. After that, he'll be moved to a regular room until Saturday if everything is working the way it's expected to work. They are allowing 1 visitor (which will be me) while he is in the hospital so that makes me feel a lot better. Once he's home he'll be on anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life but it's a small price to pay for being able to resume a "normal" life. I'm grateful to the staff and coordinators at Hershey Medical Center. We couldn't have picked a better place for his transplant surgery. The doctors have all been optimistic about the procedure and we don't expect any complications. Every question that we've asked has been answered completely and in a way that we understand. We are at T minus 10 days now and are ready to "git 'er done" (as Carl is fond of saying). Your prayers, love and support have meant a great deal to us over the past years. I look forward to posting very positive results after the surgery. Keep the prayers coming! We are not out of the woods yet but we can see the light through the trees! May God Bless you all and keep you safe. Pat and Carl. See more

We are now in countdown mode. Eight days until Carl has to go to Hershey for his pre-transplant evaluation. Chest x-ray, EKG and, of course, bloodwork! Surgery is scheduled for 2/23. He'll have to be admitted on Monday, 2/22 so they can get everything ready. January seemed like such a long month so we are really excited to be in February and counting down the days. Thank you again to everyone for sending your prayers and best wishes for him. It truly means the world to... us knowing so many people have him in their daily prayers. The snow the past couple of days has put a whuppin on us both with shoveling and using the snowblower but we'll get through this and persevere to get us to the 23rd. Then it's a new battle to make sure he stays healthy and the new kidney works like it should. Thanks again to everyone. We love you all! See more

Well, 2020 hasn't been that great a year with COVID and all of the problems that have cropped up this year. However, I am thrilled to let you know that it's not all that bad! We have a living donor who has selflessly agreed and passed all of the medical tests to become Carl's living donor! We are beyond thrilled with this news and will be forever grateful to everyone who supported us in Carl's fight for life! Surgery is scheduled for late February. Let's send 2020 out wi...th a good swift kick in the pants and when it's time, welcome 2021 into our lives. It is going to be a GREAT year and we can't wait to celebrate! Again, thank you to everyone who has liked and shared this page. It's because of YOU and your prayers that we can now concentrate on the next year and the healing and recovery process that he and his amazing donor will face. I will continue to update as progress is made so stay tuned and please keep everyone in your prayers. Thank you! See more

It's been a while since I posted on here. Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are so thankful for the people in our life. Have had several people that we know test to be Carl's living donor. Unfortunately, their test results did not come back positive for them to be a donor. However, the test did catch one critical medical issue that probably would not have been found had this person not tested. For that we are forever thankful that the tests were done and the issue wa...s found. Christmas is coming up soon and we continue to pray for good health and happiness for all of our family and friends. Carl is doing ok. He had a couple of rough days last week where he wasn't feeling quite like himself but he seems to be on the mend now. We got our latest monthly shipment of supplies. The delivery company is still not delivering inside so we have them bring them up and put them on our deck and then we bring them inside. This month's delivery was 48 boxes! It's one of those things that we've gotten used to over the past year and a half. We are looking forward to the holiday and hopefully will be blessed with news that a donor has been found. Would love to start out 2021 on a positive note! God Bless you all and stay safe. See more

11 Facts About the Kidneys Kidneys are kind of like the Brita filters of the human body. Each of these bean-shaped organs is only about the size of a fist, but they serve several vital functions. In addition to ridding your body of waste, the kidneys also help make red blood cells and regulate your blood pressure. If they aren’t kept healthy, though, they can cause a variety of kidney disease symptoms, from kidney stones to infections that could require a kidney transplant. H...Continue reading

What do you do when your phone rings at 2am in the morning? You panic thinking that someone you know and love is hurt or in an accident. In our case it was the hospital calling to tell us to be ready to come in for transplant surgery. They had a potential kidney for Carl from a deceased person. Needless to say, sleep for the rest of the night was elusive. It wasn't until around 10:30am that we got the call that the kidney was not healthy enough to transplant. This was a fir...st for us. An emotional roller coaster of happiness and remorse. When I opened Facebook this morning I saw that two other people that we know have died. One a friend that we made at the PA Hillclimbs and one that was a very dear friend of my father's. Three people lost their lives in the last 24 hours. Two that I know and one that I didn't but selflessly tried to help others by being an organ donor. We continue our search for a living donor for Carl. Please like and share so that we continue to get the word out about our need. May God bless the friends and families of the people that are no longer with us and may they find peace in heaven. See more

Motivation! It's a powerful word when you find yourself in a position where you can't do the simplest things. Carl's motivation throughout this process has been to resume his racing hobby. He has an old Volkswagen Scirocco that he goes racing with. In 2018 and most of 2019 he wasn't able to race because of his physical condition due to the ESRD. While he was in the hospital though, his main motivation was to get well enough to make it back into the car and onto the track. ...That finally happened in the fall of 2019. It's what kept him pushing to learn to walk again and to deal with the dialysis and the twice a year infusions of a drug to keep his immune system working and all of the medications that he has to take. As we head to the track this coming weekend for our last race of the year, we'll pack up the truck with the dialysis machine, boxes of dialysate, all of the medical supplies we need, extra band-aids and give thanks once again that he had the motivation and the strength to make his dream come true. Thank you again to everyone for liking and sharing this page. We are still looking for a living kidney donor for this amazing man. If you know of someone who is interested, please have them get in touch with me at [email protected]. God Bless you all. See more

Well, tomorrow is another big day for Carl. We have to be at Hershey Medical Center at 7:15am for his transplant re-evaluation. That means he'll have to hook up early tonight and we'll be on the road at 6:15am tomorrow morning. This is something that's done every year to make sure he is still healthy enough to receive a kidney. We don't expect any issues as he's doing quite well for now so please say an extra prayer for us. The evaluation includes a consult with the transp...lant team, a stress test, an Echocardiogram, EKG and CT scan, not to mention a lot of bloodwork. The poor guy can't even eat anything after midnight until probably Noon tomorrow! It's one of those things that he just has to deal with and does very well at. These tests are similar to what a living donor would go through for testing. Thanks to everyone for continuing to like and share this page. We have very high hopes that this will be the answer to our prayers. See more