Celebrating a Truly Life-Giving Gift
By Noor Elashi
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
About a year ago, Jamie Cadiz walked several steps from her bedroom to her family room and felt as though she had climbed a mountain.
For hours, she recalls, she would lie on the sofa staring at the ceiling.
"My mind was numb," she said.
Cadiz, of Southlake, was suffering from polycystic kidney disease, a genetic illness that affects more than 600,000 Americans. And after more than a decade of struggling with the disease, Cadiz's kidney function had dropped to 15 percent.
Numerous cysts had grown on her kidneys, causing her stomach to expand so much that she looked "15 months pregnant," relatives and friends said.
She found hope last spring when Colleyville resident Scott Clarke -- who was not a relative or a friend -- volunteered to donate a kidney. The transplant was performed in July at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and now Cadiz and Clarke lead healthy lives with one kidney each.
After urological surgeon Dr. Andrew Kramer removed Cadiz's kidneys, he said each was twice the length and 15 times the weight of a healthy kidney.
Fading away
Cadiz's father was 47 when he died from polycystic kidney disease. Cadiz, now 47, said she was afraid she would suffer the same fate.
The disease was diagnosed while she was pregnant with her son 14 years ago.
"I cried all the way home," Cadiz said.
As the years went by, she experienced occasional back pains. But it wasn't until mid-2005 that her illness worsened.
She started throwing up after most meals and lost her appetite. When she began dialysis in March 2006, Rice Krispies and nachos were the only foods she could tolerate.
Soon, Cadiz started to experience memory loss, which affected her work as a pharmaceutical representative. She would forget about work-related meetings and doctor appointments. Sometimes while driving, Cadiz couldn't remember her destination.
"I had to have a calendar with me all the time," she said.
Eventually she became too weak to work or have a social life. During dialysis, her days were filled with hours at the clinic and hours at home sleeping. There would be moments where her son, Jarrett, would tap her and ask her if she was feeling well.
"I didn't feel like I had a mom because she was sleeping all the time. She was always too tired to help me with my homework," said Jarrett, 13.
Cadiz's mom, Carolyn Morris, said she felt like her daughter was slowly fading away.
"I could see on a daily basis Jamie's health deteriorating," said Morris, who is a Southlake City Council member and a coordinator for the North Texas chapter of the PKD Foundation. "And not once did she complain."
Donor to the rescue
Cadiz was not a match with about 91 percent of kidney donors -- including all of her relatives -- but Morris was determined to save her daughter from the disease that had taken her husband's life.
She passed out packets at the Southlake Boulevard Church about her daughter's condition and her desperate need for a donor. Several church and community members volunteered to be tested; three -- including Clarke -- were matches.
"I literally leaned over to my wife and said, 'I'm the match.' Something in my heart told me I was it," said Clarke, 40.
Clarke is a father of three -- Joshua, 9, Foster, 6, and Faith, 3. The financial planner said his decision was a no-brainer.
"She needed one. I had two. I didn't think through it much," he said.
His wife, Judith, on the other hand, put a lot of thought into it.
"I was nervous about it at first. I asked myself what if my kids or I need a kidney one day," she said. "But then I thought, this is God's plan, and he will take care of us in the future."
Clarke left his children with relatives in Tennessee while he and his wife took off to Maryland for the surgery. The day of the transplant -- July 20 -- was the Clarkes' 15th wedding anniversary.
Instead of spending it at a restaurant or a theater, the couple spent it at a hospital.
"It doesn't mean he forgot about me, though. When he woke up after surgery, he looked up at me and whispered a 'happy anniversary' song that he totally made up. It was so funny," Judith Clarke said.
Alive and well
When the Clarkes returned home, they received two weeks' worth of meals and a warm welcome from the community. They got cards from random people nationwide, praising them for their bravery. And they had a new bond with the Cadiz family.
"How do you feel about a person who's saved your daughter's life -- ecstatic. Without Scott's gift of life, I would not have Jamie," Morris said.
Cadiz's husband, Jess Cadiz, added that Clarke sacrificed by going without four to six weeks of income.
"It takes a lot of heart and courage to do what Scott did. And it took a lot of faith and hope from Jamie, but this is the first time in years she's been pain-free," he said.
Even 3-year-old Faith Clarke admires her dad's boldness, Judith Clarke said. She continuously lifts up his shirt to see his "boo-boos."
The two families participated in the North Texas Walk for PKD in September and plan on celebrating Thanksgiving together.
Clarke, a U.S. Military Academy graduate, is back to running every morning and biking around the neighborhood.
As for Cadiz, she said it feels great to be able to remember appointments and crave food. Now she's making all sorts of plans. She wants to paint several walls in her house, shop for clothes that fit correctly, start decorating her home for Christmas and take her son to Hollywood.
"I can't sit still anymore because guess who's in charge now, my West Point kidney," she said.
IN THE KNOW
On Nov. 3, the North Texas chapter of the PKD Foundation is hosting the first annual Passion for Fashion event, a fashion show at the Marriott Solana Hotel in Westlake benefiting research into polycystic kidney disease. For more information about the fashion show and the disease, visit www.pkdcure.org or http://www.pkdpassionforfashion.com/.