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Nick Carter was diagnosed with a kidney disorder in 2005. His conditioned degraded to “ renal failure” in 2007. He was getting by on 3 percent kidney function in mid-2011.
God knows what would have happened to Nick Carter if Dawn King of Houston had not offered to donate a kidney. Dawn, a longtime friend, bowled in a league at Houston's Del Mar Lanes with Nick, Nick’s wife, Sharon, and her own husband, Bob.
As The Advocate reported in a June 1, 2011, article headlined “Carters, Kings in a league of their own,” Nick would undergo kidney transplant surgery June 21, 2011, at Methodist Hospital in Houston.
A year later, Carter is fine.
“The only thing I can tell you is I had heard before the surgery that the day after the surgery I would feel better,” Carter said during a visit with The Advocate in Cleveland. “I couldn’t imagine what anybody meant by that because obviously you’re post-surgery. How can you feel better?
“I think what they really meant is with such a slow deterioration, renal failure, you had no idea how sick you were. And so, in comparison, I feel absolutely wonderful. My energy level is back. I feel like I’m 20 years younger.”
The retirement-age and politically ubiquitous Carter must adhere to a daily regimen of multiple medications.
Others awaiting a transplant from a live donor could be as fortunate, if more live donors were available. A cadaver kidney has an expected function of seven years, Carter said, adding comparatively that a kidney from a live donor is expected to function for up to 25 years.
The kidney transplant screening process, for instance, is so stringent, particularly in regard to evaluating overall health, that 28 percent of those seeking a kidney are accepted. A mere 18 percent who request to be a live donor are accepted.
Potential donors must clear the hurdles of psychological assessment as well as the most extensive physical perhaps they will have ever had. Those processes never happen if the donor’s health questionnaire shows a disqualifying factor.
Dawn King was the 14th potential donor; the first 13 did not, in a sense, make the cut.
Carter, a San Jacinto County resident, has an idea about matters on which someone who wants to be a live organ donor might reflect.
“The first thing you do is take a look at yourself and ask, ‘Do I know someone in my family that may be in need?’” Carter said. “If I don’t know someone in my family that may be in need, ‘Do I have a friend that knows someone?’ Then I’d start talking to them about it, and I’d find out just exactly how many people are in need of donation.
“Once I’ve arrived at that, then I’ll have a conversation on, ‘Is this something that I want to do?’ I think the Bible tells us that the ultimate gift is giving of yourself, and this is truly giving of yourself.”
Dawn King is fine. Indeed she was back to working out within a couple of weeks after the surgery, in which surgeons made a one-inch incision near her belly button.
Carter said that anyone who wants to be a live kidney donor should call Methodist Hospital’s donor intake office at 713-441-6653. Ask for Michelle and mention Carter’s name.
He said Michelle will answer questions “completely and confidentially.”
The kidney donor is not charged for the transplant, Carter said. The recipient’s insurance covers that.
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