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Jonathan Daniels 66
In 2010, I started having issues with my sinuses. I couldn’ t hear well. I went to several doctors and it didn’ t get any better. I started to lose my hearing because of congestion. Then I started having terrible nose bleeds. It was bad – almost a quart of blood at a time. The whole time, all I was told was that I had sinus issues. I went to see three different ears, nose, and throat doctors. They all said I should be on an episode of the TV show,“ House,” because they couldn’ t figure out what was wrong. Finally, I lost my hearing completely, and a series of things started to go wrong with my body. I had terrible mouth sores and couldn’ t eat properly. Everything tasted like metal polish. It got worse. One night, I went to bed with a terrible pain in my back. When I woke up, I couldn’ t walk. A couple nights later, I had a sensation in my arm that felt like someone was squeezing it. Then I lost use of three of my fingers. About three nights later, the same thing happened with the other arm. I went for some brain scans. To do a brain scan, you have to stay very still. I couldn’ t do that, so they didn’ t get any good images. On November 4th 2010, I told my wife to call the doctor because I wasn’ t feeling right. She did, and we went down to the hospital. Again, the doctor didn’ t know what was wrong. But this time, he found that my potassium level was at a fatal level. I asked him what it meant. He said,“ If you eat a banana, it will probably kill you. And if you would have waited one more day to come in, you wouldn’ t have made it.” He admitted me to the hospital, and put me onto dialysis immediately. About a week later, I was still in the hospital. They called my wife and told her they thought they had discovered what I had. They said it was a very rare immune disease that only 1 in 30,000 people get. My wife asked if they could cure me. They said,“ We can try.” I was in ICU for about 5 weeks, and stayed on dialysis for almost 3 years. When you’ re on dialysis, one day you feel better and the next you feel awful. If it wasn’ t for my wife, I don’ t think I would have made it through. I felt like I didn’ t want to let her down. I never worried if I was going to die, although they did stress to me how ill I was. Gradually, my hearing began to come back with the high dosage of medication they had me on. They told me I needed to get my kidney replaced. I was on a waiting list for 3 hospitals for a new kidney. 14 people die every day because they don’ t get a kidney. Knowing that, you start to get desperate. I read a story that a young girl’ s father needed a kidney, so she posted on Facebook about it. Within a month, three people stepped up to donate one. Complete strangers. I mentioned it to my family, and they weren’ t sure about posting on Facebook. So, I went to see the minister at my church and told him about the idea. We did it, and two people wrote back. One was a girlfriend of my daughter’ s. I just couldn’ t accept. Then an email from a man in LA came through. All he wrote was,“ How do I get tested?”
His name was Jim. He found me after a friend of his had liked the post. A few months later, he came to Miami so we could get tested to see if we were a match. He told me that when he was a little boy, he would go visit his grandmother all the time with his best friend and they would hang out and play at her house. Little did he know, his grandma was fighting her own battle with kidney disease. Through the kindness of a stranger, Jim kept his grandmother. That was why he wanted to donate his kidney. Jim told me that his sister called him when she found out what he was doing.“ I heard you donated your kidney to someone,” she said.“ That’ s amazing. I just wish you had told me first. A very good friend of mine’ s husband needs a kidney. His name is Jonathan Daniels.““ That’ s exactly who I’ m donating my kidney to,“ Jim said. She couldn’ t believe it. By coincidence, she had worked with my wife for 3 and a half years. After the tests, Jim called me and said,“ I have bad news. The doctor told me that under no circumstances can I ever donate an organ.“ It was a shock. This man was very fit and in great health. I thought they must have found something in his health that could affect him negatively if he went through with donating an organ. The fact that he found out sooner was better.“ Don’ t worry,” I said.“ We tried. Now you need figure out what’ s wrong with you and find out what you need to do to get healthy.” He called the hospital back, and they brought him in for more tests. It took the hospital over a month to get us results. Finally, he called me again and told me he had good news. Apparently, the day he took the initial tests, he was in the process of moving and had been lifting heavy stuff. He must have gotten his heart rate up, which caused the results that made the doctors tell him he couldn’ t donate an organ. We found out he was a match, and we set a date. Aug 18th, we would go into surgery. The doctors all came around to prepare. They asked me a series of questions. Everything was going great. It was very cold in the room. I had a blanket with me, so I went to pull the blanket over my legs. One of the doctors noticed that there was something that looked like a pimple on the inside of my leg. He immediately said,“ We’ re canceling the procedure.“ It was an ingrown hair, but if they would have gone ahead, it could have killed me in a matter of days. When your body is receiving a new organ, it’ s foreign. If you have the slightest thing wrong with your body, it may start attack the new organ. Something so small could have killed me. It’ s amazing. A week later, we got rid of the ingrown hair and proceeded with the transplant. It was a success. I still keep in contact with Jim. He is definitely one of my angels on earth.