Brandon1218web

A Family
Gives Thanks
- And So Much More
Leigh Ramsey
“Find the little blessings in everything,
I still think about that,” Amy Hogue stated
as she reminisced about donating a kidney
to her brother. Those words were imprinted
on Amy’s heart by her sister- in-law, Kerry
Arender, 15 years ago. When Kerry shared
those words of wisdom, she had been busy
tending to Amy’s brother, Jeff, as he fought
for his life dealing with kidney failure and
dialysis. Though her days were long, hard,
and uncertain, she said finding the little
blessings helped her keep going each day.
Jeff had been born one month premature
in Jackson, Mississippi. Doctors quickly
discovered that one of his kidneys had never
formed. Only a hard mass was in its place,
which they immediately removed. After
several weeks of struggling with health
complications in the NICU, doctors
approached Jeff’s father, Jay Arender,
and said, “You know we are losing Jeff.”
Mr. Arender replied that he knew.
The medical team then decided to do
exploratory surgery and check out his second
kidney. That kidney had issues with the valves
and had to be repaired. The doctors, knowing
that Mr. Arender was in the plumbing
supply business, told him they had “Roto-
Rootered” his valves and corrected their
placement. After surgery, Jeff’s kidney began
operating at twenty percent. Over the next
several years, the kidney improved even
more, increasing to 50% function.
Jeff enjoyed a pretty normal childhood as
a “spirited youth,” only visiting the specialist
once a year to check on his kidney. At 23
years old, he got married. He and his wife,
Kerry, soon added two children to their
family, John Austin and Jane Claire. However,
at 31 years old, Jeff began noticing complications.
He started having recurring infections,
each one causing a little more damage to his
kidney. Between 2001 and 2002, he spent
165 days in the hospital. Doctors decided
that it was time to remove the remaining
kidney and put Jeff on dialysis. He was
eventually approved to receive a transplant
and that began the search for a new kidney.
Over a dozen people were tested, in
hopes they would be a match. To determine
if a kidney is a match, they are rated on a
scale of 1-6. The family began celebrating
when Jeff’s mom, Claudia, received the
news that her kidney was a 5 on that scale.
She quickly grabbed the phone to share the
exciting news with her daughter, Amy.
While they were on that phone call,
Amy received a call from a nurse letting her
know that she, too, was a match. Her kidney
was rated a 6 on that scale making her kidney
a perfect match! Doctors stated that “it was
as if Jeff’s kidney was in Amy, and she was
holding it for him.”
When asked how hard it was to decide
to donate a kidney to her brother, Amy
stated that there was never a question.
Hometown Brandon • 13