Arnold Hicks will likely still get a card this Sunday from his daughter, Natalie Fields, for Father’s Day, but he got an incredible gift nearly two weeks ago when he received one of her kidneys in a transplant operation. The surgery was nearly two years in the making and it will almost certainly improve Hicks’ quality of life as well as the lives of everyone in the family.
Hicks, 59, is a Type I diabetic and he has been insulin dependent for 49 years. One of the things that diabetes does is take a toll on the kidneys, an organ that filters the blood, among other functions.
“Six or seven years ago, at a regular doctor visit, we found that my creatinine level was rising. Basically, the higher the level of creatinine, the less your kidneys are functioning,” Hicks explained, adding that they continued to monitor it over the years.
Normal creatinine levels are around 1.1. Prior to his surgery, Hicks’ creatinine level was 4.2. He was also getting close to having a filtration level that would make dialysis necessary. Dialysis is a process for artificially removing waste and excess water from the blood. If Hicks were to start dialysis, he would likely have to stop working and his chances for being a candidate for a kidney transplant would be slim.
Two summers ago, Hicks, a Fayette County resident since 1981, asked his daughter if she would consider being a kidney donor. She immediately said yes and began a long process of testing to make sure she would be a good candidate both physically and mentally.
“I was at peace with the decision from the beginning,” said Fields. “There is a Bible passage that I heard in a Bible study shortly after making this decision. I put it on a plate at my house and read it every day.”
The passage is from Acts 20:24: “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me …”
“This was a task before me that I needed to complete, something I needed to do,” Fields said.
While she was undergoing all sorts of tests, Hicks was also undergoing rigorous testing to make sure that he was a good candidate for transplant surgery. By last July, he was approved to be listed but was told that it could be a long wait before he moved up the list and found a match.
Luckily, Fields was a perfect match. Both father and daughter have O negative blood types, meaning they can donate to anybody but only receive O negative blood. By last July, the doctors approved both of them for transplant surgery, but with Fields, a sixth-grade teacher at Rising Starr Middle School, and Hicks’ wife, Bonnie, a computer teacher at Whitewater Middle School, they couldn’t afford a six- to eight-week recovery time.
It was decided that they would have the surgery immediately after the end of the 2010-2011 school year. The surgery took place on Friday, June 3 and Hicks, whose quick recovery astounded the doctors and nurses, was home by Tuesday, June 7.
“It was nowhere as bad as I thought it would be,” Hicks said, adding that he was excited but never worried. They had been told that the transplant surgery is worse for the donor though, because it is a more invasive surgery, and Fields was more than a little sore for the first few weeks after surgery. Both are healing well and getting up and staying active, something that the doctors have said is necessary for proper healing. Fields is walking a mile or so each evening and Hicks has been walking to an area park each day.
Both Hicks and Fields had been told that having a live kidney donated from a relative increased the chances of the kidney lasting longer. They have also been assured that they can each live normal lives with one kidney. Hicks still has to watch his diet because of his diabetes but foods that were off the menu a few years ago because of the declining kidney function, particularly proteins, potassium and phosphorus, are back on to help him and his overall health. He is looking forward to eating things like watermelon, potatoes and peanuts among other things.
There are no big plans for either Fields or Hicks this summer, no vacations or large celebrations. Every day is a reason to celebrate, after all.
Fields is looking forward to swimming later this summer and getting back behind the wheel of her car before that.
Hicks is just looking forward to getting back to work. He is a district sales manager for Stemco, which provides wheel end parts for the heavy duty trucking industry. He had worked right up until the day before surgery and is eager to get back.
It may have had more to do with fitting surgery into the summer break before the next school year, but the gift of a kidney, really the gift of life, was a perfect Father’s Day gift from Fields to her father, one that can never be topped.
