Keller 21-year-old receives life-saving kidney transplant
KELLER, Texas - More than 100,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, with most of them waiting for a kidney.
A Keller man with end stage renal disease got good news last week and received a kidney.
"I was surprised that they actually found one. Apparently, the kidney came from Houston, and they flew it here," said 21-year-old Hunter Johnson.
Johnson and his mother thought a possible transplant would be at least a year away.
Last year, after Johnson suffered a heart attack, doctors told him he had Stage 5 kidney failure.
"It never showed up in any physicals, and we don't have any kidney issues anywhere in the family, so that was never specifically tested for," said Shanna Toft, Johnson's mother.
The deceased organ donor provided a kidney to Johnson and another person.
According to the National Kidney Foundation, 100,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant.
The foundation says 37 million adults in the US are living with chronic kidney disease and 90 percent don't know they have it.
Some, like Johnson, are in dire condition.
"I had 2% function," said Johnson.
The organization says most people wait 3 to 5 years for a kidney in the US.
"It's so cool to think that when we leave here, he's not on dialysis anymore. And, you know, we can have the clinic come and pick up his dialysis machine," Toft said.
There will be a long recovery process for Johnson, including about six months of isolation to build up his immune system.
"This probably won't reach the family of the donor. But, we are extremely grateful and so, so glad that this person was a donor, because this person saved two lives," said Toft.