380 patients at Walter Reed who are on the national kidney transplant list

‘I don’t want to die’: 380 Walter Reed patients are looking for kidney donors

Military Times
By: Natalie Gross
February 26, 2019

Touched by stories like Dadzie’s, Desgoutte-Brown is trying to spread the word about her beloved patients, in hopes that others in the military community would consider coming forward as potential donors.

BETHESDA, Md. — “I don’t want to die.”

Navy wife Phyllis Obeng Dadzie, 25, went into kidney failure after giving birth to her son, Prince Charles, last August. (Charles Agyeilarbi)

Phyllis Obeng Dadzie said the words quietly, but with a slight chuckle, as though it was obvious. She was sitting with her husband, Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Agyeilarbi, in a small room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, shivering under a pink winter coat that covered her small frame.

Seven months ago, Dadzie, a native of Ghana, was a healthy 25-year-old, pregnant with the couple’s second child. But in August, complications during the third trimester and the birth of their son, Prince Charles, sent Dadzie into stage 5 kidney disease and, ultimately, to Walter Reed, where she now gets dialysis three times a week.

She’s fully aware of what could happen if she doesn’t get a new kidney soon, but she’s not ready to give up — not with a 2-year-old and a baby at home who need their mom.

“I just want to get a new kidney and live (for) my kids again,” she said. “That’s all that I pray for every day.”

Dadzie is one of about 380 patients at Walter Reed who are on the national kidney transplant list — from troops and military dependents in their young twenties to military retirees who’ve dedicated their lives to service.
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Florida Vietnam Veteran saved by other brother

2 Vietnam veterans forever connected by life-saving kidney donation from one to the other
FOX New York
By: Bob Barnard
POSTED: SEP 18 2018

"Our blood and tissue type match is good," said Coffman. "And to me, it just is living proof that we're all part of one human family. The chances of our match -- I don't know what the odds were, but we beat them."

WASHINGTON - Two men who served in the Air Force almost 50 years ago trained together in California. After they served our country, they returned home and parted ways.

Jim McGee and Doug Coffman didn't reconnect until a recent reunion of their training class at a memorial service for one of their fellow Vietnam veterans. It was the first time the men had seen each other since 1971. That's when one of them learned the other was in urgent need of a new kidney. The operation happened Tuesday at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.

McGee, a retired foreign service officer and former U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe and Madagascar from Sarasota, Florida, was undergoing dialysis three times a week while waiting for a kidney donation.
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Teenager's Life Cut Short By Accident, Soldier's Life Extended By Love

Teen who died following ladder fall donates kidney to veteran
KOMO
by Suzanne Phan
August 26th 2016

SILVERDALE, Wash. (KOMO) - A Kitsap family is preparing to bury their beloved teenage daughter on Saturday, but they find hope and promise that a part of her lives on.

Sixteen-year-old Emily Ramm was a bold, daring, and outspoken teen with big dreams and a lot of ambition, according to her family. Her life was cut short after she fell from a ladder at a construction site at Silverdale Elementary School on Aug. 13.

Loved ones say she was climbing to find higher ground and a better place to watch the meteor shower that night with friends.

KOMO News has heard from a military veteran who received Emily's kidney right after she passed.

"There's no words to describe how grateful I am. For the family, the loss is huge. I can't say thank you enough,” said Daniel Mendoza from his home.
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Afghanistan Veteran Donated Kidney to Save Mom!

ARMY VETERAN DONATES KIDNEY TO MOTHER, SAVES HER LIFE
ABC 7 News
Darsha Phillips
March 5, 2016

LOMA LINDA, Calif. (KABC) -- When a local mom needed a kidney transplant, her Army veteran son did not hesitate to donate and save her life.

There are over 100,000 patients every year waiting for kidney transplants, and less than 20 percent of them will actually get a donor.

Living with kidney disease for more than 8 years, Lucia Zubia was afraid dying while waiting for a donor would be her fate.

"It's sad when you see your friends that you make at dialysis pass away, you know?" she said.

Lucia didn't have to wait very long. Her son, Emanuel, who had already served in Afghanistan, didn't hesitate to do something heroic again.

"For my mom, I'd do anything. I'd die for her," he said.
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Vietnam Veteran Brothers Bond in Heart Now By Body Too

VIETNAM VETERAN PUTS LIFE ON THE LINE FOR ARMY BROTHER
Associated Press
Jennifer Peltz
November 11, 2015

Their connection goes back to March 1968 in Fort Carson, Colorado, where C Company, 1st Battalion, 11th Infantry, 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division, was training to go to war.

Henry "Bill" Warner, left, and John Middaugh clasp hands prior to their surgeries at
NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York. (Mark Lennihan)

NEW YORK -- Serving together in Vietnam, John Middaugh and Henry "Bill" Warner forged an Army-brothers bond they knew was profound and lasting.

A world and nearly a half a century away from the war zone where they'd counted on each other, Middaugh put himself on the line for Warner this month in a new way: by giving one of his kidneys.

"He had my back many times," Middaugh said as they awaited surgery last week at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, across the country from his home in Port Orchard, Washington. "So this is payback time."

Both are now 73. Warner, of Brightwaters, New York, had been through a health wringer since his kidneys failed after heart bypass surgery in June 2014, abruptly thrusting him into dialysis.

But "we got through Vietnam. We'll get through this," Warner said.
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Wounded soldier hopes kidney transplant will allow him to go on serving

Wounded soldier needs transplant
Associated Press
Posted March 10, 2013

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee soldier who was critically wounded in Afghanistan just as his deployment was ending is now in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

Army Pfc. Marshall Lane told the Johnson City Press that he is grateful to have survived a bullet wound last year, but the injuries and blood loss caused his kidneys to fail.

"I'm still at Walter Reed (Army Medical Center), still doing dialysis three times a week. The prognosis is I need a transplant," Lane said in a telephone interview.

He said Walter Reed has a Living Donor Transplant program, and he and his family are hoping that someone will agree to be tested to see if they are a match for him.

Lane, 23, said he, his wife, Amanda, and their son, Frankie, are living in military housing at Walter Reed while his treatments continue.

"I have doctor's appointments almost daily. I have formation Monday and Friday," he said.

Lane said his hope is that a donated kidney would allow him to stay in the military.
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North Dakota National Guard gives kidney to other soldier

N.D. guardsman donates kidney to fellow soldier
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Nov 5, 2011 12:26:22 EDT
FARGO, N.D. — Two members of the North Dakota National Guard have shared not only duty in Afghanistan, but also a kidney.

When Spc. John Chase’s kidneys shut down, Sgt. Francisco “Cisco” Raatz donated one to his friend.

Chase was on leave early last year when he became ill while vacationing with his family at Disneyland. Once he returned to Grand Forks, his doctor found that his kidneys had shut down, the Grand Forks Herald and Fargo Forum reported.

Chase started kidney dialysis to cleanse his blood of impurities, but then learned his kidneys had failed because they had been targeted by antibodies. After a year and a half, the antibodies had run their course and Chase was eligible for a kidney transplant.

Raatz, 29, still on duty in Afghanistan with a unit of military police, learned that his friend was in need of a donor kidney. When he learned his blood type made him a potential donor, he decided he would be tested after he got back home to see if he was a match.

Raatz was a match and decided to donate a kidney.
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Karl D. Chapin Vietnam Vet, guardian angel and donor

War hero with kidney to spare finds donor recipient on Web
By Eva Wolchover
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Arlington restaurant owner Ricardo Mermet saw more than a hero in Vietnam vet and war amputee Karl D. Chapin of Grafton. He saw his guardian angel.

Until Tuesday, Mermet, a native of Argentina who co-owns Tango restaurant with his wife, Nancy, was in desperate need of a new kidney. Years of diabetes and hypertension had taken their toll, and Mermet had spent the last 18 months undergoing thrice-weekly sessions of dialysis while his name sat unmoved on the national organ donation list (UNOS).

Chapin, 59 is a decorated amputee who lost his right hand at Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. He came across Mermet’s plea for a kidney on matchingdonors.com, a Canton-based Web site that matches donors with patients in need of transplants.

When asked which kidney he’d like to donate, he said, “Doc, you gotta take the left, because that’s the one I’ve been teaching Spanish to.’ ” he joked.

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