Your TRAGEDY will become your TESTIMONY....
Give yourself a chance at life...NEVER give up!
As Langston Hughes said; "Life for me ain't been no crystal stair." Being the truest line of poetry that I've ever read, I realize that even though life hasn't been the easiest; I'm still here. The things that the devil planned for my DESTRUCTION, God turned it into a VICTORY for me. Back in May, 2000, I was diagnosed with kidney failure after my whole body went numb from head to toe during basketball practice during my freshman year of high school. My past medical history had shown no signs of any medical conditions outside of a heart murmur that I was born with. In the beginning, things didn't look so bright as my mother took me to a 24-hour clinic to see if we could find out what was going on with my body. At the time my blood pressure was 155/100, which caused the doctor to worry if there had been any internal damage to my body due to my pressure being so high. After going back to the clinic, the doctor told me that he felt it was something wrong with my kidneys.
I knew that I was in for the fight of my life as I was faced with a new battle that I had to fight. Funny, we have a habit of trying to take on things ourselves when God already has it worked out for us. My situation was no different. After the clinic doctor gave me some blood pressure pills that didn't work, my mother then called Children's Medical Center's Renal Division, just to find out that I couldn't get in for atleast two months as they were fully booked. My first blessing came from actually not getting into the renal division the first time around. Because of my heart murmur, I had a cardiologist at Children's that had been following my heart health from the time that I was small. My mother called my cardiologist and told him everything that was going on. The next day, I was in his office having tests ran. Once the results came back, it was confirmed that my kidneys were not only failing, but also they were the size of a baby's kidneys.
My second blessing came through my cardiologist, as he walked my mo ther and I over to the renal division. Shows you how fast God can work. Just two months ago, I was told that I had to be put on the waiting list...but God moved me to VIP status. To make a long story short, I had to endure several medication changes, a change in my diet, skin tone, and life, as well as a failed attempt at a kidney transplant on July, 4, 2000. We got a call saying that a kidney was available for me. I get prepped for surgery, get a dose of the "sleepy juice" as I call it, next thing I know, I wake up in a hospital room, and not ICU..so I knew something was wrong. It turned out that the nurses put the kidney in the refrigerator versus the freezer where it was suppose to go! Needless to say, my surgeon aborting my surgery was a blessing.
But on November 22, 2001, Thanksgiving Day, I received a call from my doctor saying that another kidney was available. This time around, I had a positive feeling that the surgery would go through. I went through the same routine as I did back in July, except for when I woke up this time....I knew that I had surgery. I woke up in ICU in the worst pain in my life. And as funny as it sounds, I wouldn't trade that pain for the world....My pain, tears, hurt, struggle, and victories have molded me into the person that I am today. God never takes you through anything that He can't bring you out of...I'm living proof! I've been beating the odds placed in front of me since 1984; the year of my birth. Being adopted, told I wouldn't graduate high school, and kidney failure made me the fighter that I am now! I thank God for blessing me with the gift that is a kidney for the last TEN years...And I'm thankful for you taking time out of your day to read this blog...remember to never give up! Fight for life, because there is somebody depending on you!
