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Brendon gets a new kidney
Peachtree City man loses nearly 200 pounds, receives kidney transplant
PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. - Brendon and Jonee Blair still can't believe it.
"It's crazy," the Peachtree City, Georgia, man says. "I am a transplant survivor."
After years of waiting, Brendon Blair underwent a kidney transplant June 28, 2019 at UAB Kidney Tranpslant Center. (Blair family photo)
The call came the morning of June 27, 2019.
After 21-months on a waiting list, Blair was told the University of Alabama Birmingham Kidney Transplant Center had found a donor kidney for him.
"They said, 'You're a match, and it's a go, and we need you here by 5 'o’clock," Brendon Blair remembers.
On the two-hour drive from Peachtree City to UAB, the Blairs thought about everything they had been through.
The high blood pressure had silently damaged Brendon's kidneys in his twenties.
After years of waiting, Brendon Blair underwent a kidney transplant June 28, 2019 at UAB Kidney Tranpslant Center. (Blair Family photo)
He went into end-stage kidney failure at 33, beginning 6 and a half years of dialysis.
The couple moved across the street from a Peachtree City dialysis center, so that Brendon could get the blood-cleansing treatments before he started his shifts at a local Verizon store.
"Monday, Wednesday, Friday, I was waking up at 4:45 in the morning," Blair says.
And, then, there was his weight.
Brendan Blair lost nearly half his body weight to get healthy enough to undergo a kidney transplant. (Blair Family photo)
"I'd gotten up to about 412 pounds," he says.
To qualify for a transplant, Blair's doctors told the Morehouse College graduate he would need to lose weight, a lot of weight.
He was undaunted.
First, he changed his diet and started exercising for the first time in years, dropping 85 pounds.
Then, after undergoing gastric sleeve surgery, he lost another 100 pounds.
"I wanted to be healthy," Blair says.
Now, after 3 false calls, where the donor kidney had gone to another recipient, he and Jonee were almost there.
"It is like there is a burden that's been lifted," Jonee Blair says.
But even at the hospital, the Blairs were still holding their breath.
Brendon Blair awaits surgery at UAB Kidney Transplant Center on June 28, 2019
They didn't know if the kidney, which was coming from a deceased donor, would ultimately be a match for him.
"They let you know, if it's not perfect, they're not going to do it," Jonee Blair says.
The surgical team kept Brendon awake, while they checked the two kidneys from the donor.
"They had prepped me and everything, and I was ready to go," he says.
There was a problem.
The first of the two kidneys had too many blood clots to be safely transplanted.
Brendon Blair waited 6 years for a kidney transplant.
"The first one was gone," Brendon Blair remembers. "I prayed. They asked me if I wanted to hear any music and I said, "Yes, I want gospel music! Kirk Franklin played, and then Tamela Mann played."
He lay on the OR table, awake, a nurse holding his hand.
Ten minutes felt like a lifetime, which the surgical team inspected the second kidney.
This was his last option.
"I could see my heart rate going up a little bit, and I was praying and praying and praying," He says. "I said, 'Lord, I know this is for me. Work this out. Work it out somehow. And, he did."
Because that second kidney was in perfect shape.
Brendon Blair awoke several hours later, a new kidney inside him, cured of the disease that had controlled his life for years.
"I was, like, 'Wow, this is real, it happened, and I won't have to have dialysis anymore," Blair says.
Jonee Blair says her husband has always been thankful.
"With this, his level of gratitude has just gone through the roof," she laughs.
Blair says he can't stay off Amazon.
"I order all these transplant shirts," he says. "And they're a conversation-starter."
Under transplant rules, the Blairs will have to wait a year before they can write a letter to his donor's family.
Then, it will be up to the family to decide whether to reach out to the Blairs.
They know only that the donor was a young woman.
Brendon Blair smiles at UAB Kidney Transplant Center
"I want to know about her," Jonee Blair says. "I want to know about her life, and her family. Hopefully, God can knit our families together, if they decided to. And if they don't, that's okay."
Brendon Blair says he wants to tell the family thank you.
"I'm just praying for them," he says. "My church has been praying for them, my family."
Now, for the first time, in their 10-year marriage, Brendon Blair is healthy.
"Because her family chose to give this beautiful gift, literally, my husband is living," Jonee Blair says. "That's amazing."
Miraculous, really.
Brendon Blair poses with transplant flag flown in his honor at UAB Kidney Transplant Center
"We made it through those storms, and it feels really good to stand in the sunshine," Jonee Blair says. "It feels really good."
The couple can now focus on a goal they have been putting off for years: starting a family.
Brendon Blair says that would be his next dream-come-true.