Wilkes-Barre, PA resident, Mel Talmadge, is a hero for many reasons. He spent much of his life serving the United States as a Sergeant 1st Class in the Army for 20 years, and had a tour in Vietnam in 1970. He also spent over a decade of his life fighting to survive.
Mel never really worried about being sick or getting annual checkups, and was always lucky enough to feel healthy. Then in 1998, he began noticing that his eye sight wasn’t as sharp as it had been. He thought he may just need new glasses and went to the optometrist. That day changed his life forever. As he sat in the optometrist’s chair, no lenses seemed to help him see. The doctor went through lens after lens, and his vision was still blurry. Knowing that something was wrong, the doctor took his blood pressure. It was 220/180. The doctor immediately called 911, asked Mel to remain seated and to wait for the paramedics to arrive. Mel kept saying, “But I feel completely fine.”
“Dialysis is a blessing and a curse,” he said. “It kept me alive, but I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything because my life revolved around it.” — Mel Talmadge
There is a reason that high blood pressure is called the silent killer. Often, there are no symptoms before it’s too late. Once he arrived at the hospital, Mel was told that his high blood pressure had nearly destroyed his kidneys, which were now only functioning at 20%. His only option at that point was to go on dialysis.
For more than four hours a day, three times per week, Mel was tethered to a machine that kept him alive. “Dialysis is a blessing and a curse,” he said. “It kept me alive, but I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything because my life revolved around it.”
He was told that he would need a kidney transplant to survive, but was unable to be listed on the organ transplant waitlist due to his weight. After several years of dialysis, Mel made the decision to get gastric bypass surgery so he could be added to the waitlist. After the surgery, he was a different man – and was nearly 140 pounds lighter!
Then the wait began. For three years, Mel waited for the phone to ring, hoping that he would be given a second chance at life. Several times the phone did ring, but unfortunately the circumstances were never quite right and he was unable to receive a transplant.
Then on June 13, 2009, he received the call of a lifetime. “I was sitting in my kitchen when I got the call. They said that they had a kidney for me,” Mel said. “I had so many disappointments before that, so I just assumed it wouldn’t work out. I was wrong and several hours later I was prepping for surgery. It all happened so fast.”
Mel’s success story is not one that everyone on the waitlist gets to experience. Currently in the US, 20 people die each day while waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. And the waitlist stats are staggering – over 5,300 men, women and children in Gift of Life Donor Program’s region (southern NJ, eastern PA and DE) and more than 121,000 in the US are currently waiting.
In less than one week post-transplant, Mel felt like a different man. He had energy and was so relieved to be able to live his life free from dialysis. He celebrated by buying a Mustang and spontaneously driving from his home in PA to Key West, FL. He was grateful to be alive and wanted to celebrate his second chance by enjoying life and traveling – something he had been unable to do for so long.
Today, Mel is a healthy man. “I feel like I was never sick. Life is good. My numbers have been great when I go to the doctor and it’s been six years since I received my life-saving transplant” he said. To help him stay active and honor the generosity of his donor, he began to volunteer with Gift of Life Donor Program – sharing his story and the power of donation and transplantation wherever he could. He has been an educational speaker at high schools, universities, rotary clubs, hospitals and many more places. “I’m not speaking about donation for myself, I’m doing it for all those who are still on dialysis and waiting – for the people who may not be as lucky as I am to receive the gift of life,” said Mel.
I met Mel at his volunteer stand last year at the hospital. He is so. Asset to the gift of life organization. Dr. Varma also did a kidney transplant on myself. Thank you both for all the help you do for people who are in need transplant.