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- CommentAuthorjacob
- CommentTimeNov 21st 2009 edited
Thousands of people like him, waiting and hoping for a donor to save their lives.
"No matter what happens to me, if I get a kidney or not, I want others to know how important organ donation is," said Wicker, 24, of Zanesville. "I want people to understand that there are thousands of us just waiting day after day, hoping that we'll get that one thing we so desperately need."
According to Lifeline of Ohio, the national waiting list for organ donation was at 104,420 in October. In Ohio, about 3,000 people are waiting for some type of donation.
With MPGN Type 2, a rare kidney disease, Wicker has spent the past three years waiting for a donor and is on dialysis three times a week, four hours at a time.
Wicker has been prepped twice for a new kidney, only to have his hopes dashed after doctors discovered one was too small and the other couldn't be matched to him.
Instead of becoming bitter or withdrawn, Wicker is helping by telling his story; he will encourage others to become organ donors.
Wicker was diagnosed with MPGN Type 2, or membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis type II, when he was 11. It is considered to be an autoimmune disease in which deposits of immune materials spread through the membranes leading to a thickening of the capillary walls and disrupting kidney function.
Wicker's mother, Chris, said he came to her on the weekend of July 4 and told her his head was "mushy."
"I knew that wasn't right and then it got worse over the weekend," Chris remembers. "We took him to the emergency room, they rushed him to (Nationwide) Children's Hospital in Columbus and he went into renal failure."
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- CommentAuthorjacob
- CommentTimeNov 21st 2009
After numerous visits and stays at the hospital, Wicker finally was able to go home, but not before his family was told his disease was not only rare, but probably fatal.
"Most children are diagnosed with this before the age of 2," Chris said. "The doctors told us then, if Cody lived to the age of 20, he would be on dialysis."
Chris said her son, the youngest of three, always has been a happy-go-lucky person.
"He's really my rock," Chris said. "He is able to handle this 10 times better than me. He's just a go-getter who looks out for everybody else."
"I really don't understand why I, or anyone else really, has to get a disease like this," Wicker said. "But, I'm not scared of death. I guess it's just something that happened and I'm not going to dwell on it. There are people out there who have it a lot worse than I do."
Wicker, who looks like any other healthy, happy young man, said he's glad strangers aren't aware of his condition.
"I don't want to look sick," Wicker said. "They are a little surprised when they see my arm and how it looks since I've been taking dialysis. People are like, wow, does it hurt?"
Wicker said he feels no pain during the treatments but does get tired afterward.
Chris said her son had as much of a normal childhood as the disease would allow.
"He played football and boxed," Chris said. "He always looked and acted real healthy. It was so heart wrenching when this happened. But, he's been my rock through all of it."
Wicker credits much of his positive attitude to his family, friends and Dr. Raul Hernandez Jr.
"Dr. Hernandez tells it like it is," Wicker said. "I'm young and pretty bull-headed. So I need someone to just put it on the line and tell me when I'm wrong and not doing the right thing. He just tells me straight up what he wants me to do."
Chris said not only is the waiting for a donor for her son a burden, but once that donation is made, she'll feel bittersweet about it.
"For my child to live, another child or person has to die," Chris said. "That's just hard to be glad or happy about."
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