I Wasn’t Sure I Wanted My Son to Donate: Mike Phillis’s Kidney Transplant Story
I’ve been a blood donor since the age of 16. My family has always done that and it was something I always wanted to do.
About 12 years ago, when I was 54, I was at the blood bank and they told me I could not give that day because my blood pressure was really high. They told me I should go to the doctor.
I went to the doctor and he put me on blood pressure medication. He also did a full panel of bloodwork, which showed that my kidney function was at 34%. He recommended that I see a specialist.
I was healthy and very active, so I didn’t think anything was wrong. I went to see a specialist, who started me on some different vitamins and had me watch my diet. From there it was a slow road of decline.
A year ago, my doctor said he had good news and bad news: The bad news was that I was at 20% kidney function; the good news was that I could get on the transplant list.
That was last October. He gave my name to both University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and University Hospital Cleveland and said they would call me to start the process. UPMC called first, so I went there to start the testing. Shortly after that, University Hospital Cleveland called, and UPMC shared the tests I had already done.
They gave me some cards to hand out with an 800 number to call for anyone who wanted to be tested as a potential donor. All my siblings called, but all of them are on high blood pressure medicine, so they were all ruled out right away.
I have three kids. My two daughters had health issues when they were younger, so they were out. My son, Mitch, said he was going to call. I wasn’t sure I wanted him to do that, but he said he was going to do it anyway. He called and they invited him down for some further testing.
Mitch and his wife had asked us to go on a cruise with them in March of this year. My GFR had been down, so I told them I might be on dialysis by then. About a month before the cruise, I told my wife that this may be the last time I could go on vacation without a machine. I said, let’s do it. They were able to get us on, so we booked it.
The day before the cruise, Mitch found out that he was approved to donate and was a match, and they were going to do the transplant in two weeks. We were getting on the ship when we got a call from UPMC telling us that the surgery was set for April 2. I went over to the guy checking us in for the cruise and said, my son is a match and I’m going to get a kidney, and the guy started to cry.
It went by really quick. In those two weeks, I had to tell a lot of people around me who didn’t even know I had any issues. I hadn’t even told good friends. When I told them, I said if Mitch wasn’t a match, I would have been handing you all cards.
After the transplant, I went from 18 GFR to 60; it’s now between 50 and 55.
About the Author
Mike Phillis is 67, retired, and lives in Salem, OH, with his wife, Lynn. They have three grown children: Mitch, Megan, and Mollie. Mike worked 39 years at Columbia Gas of Ohio. He enjoys sports, coaching his kids, and has been the high school football announcer for almost 30 years. In the last several years, he has been involved in the United Gridiron Club, raising money for scholarships. He is and always has been very involved in his church, which he has attended his entire life. With his new kidney, donated by his son, he gets to enjoy watching and helping his grandchildren play sports. Mike and Lynn enjoy traveling with family and friends. Mike considers himself very blessed that his son Mitch was willing to donate his kidney. It is a gift Mike knows he could never repay.
