Tulsa man uses online ad to find an organ donor
A kidney weighs about as much as a dainty piece of filet mignon, and it's so small that you could cover it with a single dollar bill.
Those two little bean-shaped organs are tiny, yes, but each day the duo filters half-a-gallon of waste and water from the blood stream.
That is, if you have kidneys.
Ernest Burrus doesn't.
Blame it on the 49-year-old's polycystic kidney disease (PKD).
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| Ernest Burrus, who needs a kidney transplant, poses with his wife, Saundra, who considers her husband a “hero.” |
Before the former Broken Arrow mechanic turned 33, the genetic disease formed grapelike cysts inside and outside of his kidneys until one kidney actually split open.
Burrus didn't know why it split until X-rays showed his poor kidneys were mobbed by cysts.
He spent 14 days in the hospital recovering after that split, and by the time he left the hospital he was 60 pounds lighter.
Then, from 1991 to 2006, Burrus' overwhelmed and swollen kidneys slowly stopped doing their job until doctors had to remove them in December 2006.
These days, tiring peritoneal dialysis -- like the more painful hemodialysis before it -- does the job, although not as well, that two little organs were supposed to do for a lifetime.
There is a chance Burrus might have to go back on hemodyalsis if he doesn't get a kidney soon.
Needless to say, Burrus needs a kidney transplant.
Unfortunately, Burrus' wife is not a blood-type match. Doctors might be able to cross-match the blood from one of her three children from a different marriage, but it's a long shot.
As for Burrus' two children from a different marriage, they can't take the chance of donating a kidney. One child has a 90 percent chance of having the disease, which means the other child would need to donate a kidney.
Others have taken the test to see whether they had a compatible blood type, but none was a match.
OK, so Burrus needs a kidney -- sooner rather than later, obviously. But he may have to wait about a half-dozen more years.
There is a chance, though, Burrus won't have to wait that long.See, there's a Web site called http://www.matchingdonor.com/.
The nonprofit organization's Web site is designed for people who need an organ transplant to tell their poignant stories to potential donors.
Although MatchingDonors has been featured on "60 Minutes" and in People magazine, Burrus' wife learned about the site from her husband's mother, who has PKD but isn't on dialysis.
Initially, Burrus' wife, Saundra Burrus, aka Sam, thought the site must be a scam, but research proved otherwise.
Still, the $595 sign-up fee was too steep for a family on a tight budget.
Ultimately, however, Burrus' wife figured it was a fair price if it meant her husband could resume a life put on hold.
Burrus' MatchingDonors page was supposed to be a Christmas present, but his giddy bride simply couldn't wait to tell him.
Since Burrus' MatchingDonors Web page first appeared online Dec. 10, it's doing its job, attracting the likes of a female firefighter/paramedic in Chicago, who recently offered to take a blood test to see whether she is a blood-type match. Now they'll wait to see what happens next.
If only more people were willing to donate organs to those in need, Burrus lamented.
"The donor deal, there's always such a myth about it," he explained. "I think that's why a lot of people aren't donors . . . Most of the time you're in the hospital 2-3 days, and usually the (donor) can go back to work within a month.
"It hadn't been that long ago that if you donated a kidney, they had to take a rib out, (and) you'd be laid up six months."
Perhaps the potential donor in Chicago -- an Army first lieutenant who spent time serving in Iraq -- was swayed to donate because two of Burrus' stepchildren and his son-in-law have military backgrounds.
Or maybe the Chicago woman was moved by Saundra Burrus' plea on the Web page: "He needs a kidney so desperately. I cannot stand to see him like this."
After all, this is the same man who proved a husband can be a "hero."
She met Ernie, a mechanic, on a mid-'90s blind date.
"He rescued me -- literally," she recalled. "The three kids and I were living on $8 an hour in a trailer. I didn't have anything for Christmas. I could hardly afford groceries.
"Even when we were dating, he was buying groceries for us, and he put cable in the house -- just things like that."
In the years since the couple's 1996 wedding, Saundra Burres went on to graduate from Tulsa Community College and Northeastern State University en route to the University of Tulsa's law school, where she's set to graduate next December.
Now it's time for her husband to reclaim a busy life once spent in his now defunct auto shop, Ernie's Services & More.
And it will only take an organ smaller than a dollar bill.
Wouldn't it be nice if Burrus could once again enjoy the family's swimming pool on a warm afternoon? Or maybe work on a car without tiring? Or have the energy to not spend most of Christmas day asleep on the couch?
When, and if, the kidney transplant happens, the couple would like to renew their wedding vows made a dozen years ago -- this time in a candle-lit church rather than in front of an Arkansas judge.
On that day, they'll once again pledge to forever love each other, just as they always have: in sickness and in health.
Burrus' MatchingDonors Web page can be found online at:
www.tulsaworld.com/burrus
This article was originally published in Tulsaworld.
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