{"id":53704,"date":"2018-08-27T09:38:05","date_gmt":"2018-08-27T13:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=53704"},"modified":"2024-01-04T15:07:27","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T20:07:27","slug":"ddn-these-former-colleagues-didnt-know-one-another-at-wright-state-then-one-donated-a-kidney-to-the-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2018\/08\/27\/ddn-these-former-colleagues-didnt-know-one-another-at-wright-state-then-one-donated-a-kidney-to-the-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton Daily News: These former colleagues didn\u2019t know one another at Wright State. Then one donated a kidney to the other."},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

Since the surgery, Joyce Howes and Phil Combs have remained in touch, even having lunch together.<\/p><\/div>\n

For nearly two decades, they both worked at Wright State University at the same time, not far from each other. But they never met.<\/p>\n

Then in a very cosmic way, their paths crossed when Joyce Howes donated one of her kidneys to Phil Combs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a game-changer \u2014 just to be able to give that kind of gift to somebody else so they can have their life back again,\u201d said the 60-year-old Combs, of Kettering, whose kidney failure had forced him to undergo dialysis for 18 months. \u201cI was kind of gobsmacked, but I was also very happy. I thought, \u2018Wow. Somebody decided to do this for me I don\u2019t even really know.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Combs\u2019 kidneys, damaged by decades of diabetes, began to fail in early 2016. On Oct. 17, 2016, he went to the emergency room and was told that he had barely escaped going into a coma because there was such a high level of toxins in his blood. He began emergency dialysis.<\/p>\n

Kidney dialysis is a life-saving treatment that artificially removes waste and toxins from the body by filtering blood through a machine. It is typically done several times a week in sessions that each last several hours. Dialysis is not as efficient as real kidneys and can produce side effects that include weight gain, low blood pressure, muscle cramps and infection.<\/p>\n

Combs spent several months in hemodialysis until the port inserted in his abdomen healed then switched to peritoneal dialysis. This enabled him to receive the cleaning his blood needed while he slept, though it took nine hours per night.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people have no idea what it\u2019s like to be that sick in the first place,\u201d said Combs. \u201cYou\u2019re always feeling bad. Even when you\u2019re feeling good, you\u2019re feeling bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days after he returned to work from the hospital in 2016, Combs learned that his job at Wright State\u2019s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) had been eliminated due to budget cuts.<\/p>\n

Combs sent out two mailings to the Wright State community in 2017 trying to find a donor. A few people responded but said they couldn\u2019t be donors. Five friends outside of Wright State volunteered to be donors but turned out not to be matches. Combs resigned himself to being on a waiting list for a kidney from a deceased donor.<\/p>\n

But he didn\u2019t know about Joyce Howes.<\/p>\n

When Howes, of Miami Twp. read Combs\u2019 appeal for a donor and realized he had lost his job, income and benefits, she didn\u2019t hesitate. She immediately picked up the phone and called the University of Cincinnati Health Center to offer herself as a donor candidate.<\/p>\n

After sending the hospital samples of her blood, she waited \u2026 and waited \u2026 and waited. Two months went by.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assumed I was not a match. Then I got the phone call,\u201d she said. \u201cI was shocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combs also got a call from the center at the same time last January, telling him a person from Wright State by the name of Joyce Howes had volunteered to be a donor and was a match. The two of them met for coffee at Bob Evans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a very nice conversation; everything clicked,\u201d Combs recalled. \u201cIt completely changed my outlook and attitude about what could happen. It was indeed life-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combs grew up in Dayton and graduated from Stebbins High School in 1976. He worked in retail for several years before enrolling at Wright State and in 1986 earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in English.<\/p>\n

While working as a technical writer for several different government contractors, Combs\u2019 talent for working on computers was recognized and he was pressed into service in maintaining them. He went on to work for three years at ThinkTV , the Dayton PBS member station, before landing a position in 1999 at Wright State, doing computer support for CTL.<\/p>\n

Howes grew up in Kettering. Her interest in science was inspired at a young age by her father, who was an amateur naturalist and outdoorsman. Spending time hiking, fishing and \u201ccreekin\u2019\u201d was a big part of her childhood.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Fairmont East High School, Howes enrolled at Wright State, but dropped out after a year-and-a-half, returning five years later to study biology.<\/p>\n

She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in 1978 and her master\u2019s degree in 1980 and then began work as an instructor in the university\u2019s Department of Biological Sciences. Eight years later she was named assistant to the department chair, then assistant dean of the College of Science and Mathematics, where she remained for 22 years before retiring in 2015. She currently works as an adjunct instructor in biological sciences and is president of the Wright State University Retirees Association.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love Wright State. I always have,\u201d she said. \u201cIt changed me into an educated person and a professional. After my family, Wright State is the biggest influence in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howes, 67, underwent an immense battery of medical tests at the Cincinnati hospital in preparation for the transplant, in part to make sure she was healthy enough for the surgery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew the chances of a complication for me were vanishingly small; the chances of a full recovery without complication were great,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd the chances of me having kidney disease with one kidney were essentially no different from if I had two kidneys. So I did not feel I was at risk, barring something truly weird. I wasn\u2019t worried at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 30, Howes and Combs found themselves in adjacent operating rooms. Their surgeries were done simultaneously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very happy I was going to have a chance at a normal life again, which was wonderful,\u201d said Combs. \u201cOf course, I was apprehensive. Being a very major surgery and chances that complications could happen made me uneasy. But I really didn\u2019t feel I had much of a choice but to go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Howes, it was one four-inch incision and two tiny laparoscopic incisions. She said the surgeons were extremely skilled and inspired confidence. She spent one night in the hospital and then about two weeks at home recovering. At the end of six weeks, Howes returned to all of her normal activities.<\/p>\n

Combs estimates his surgery took about five hours. His new kidney began working immediately. He remained in the hospital for four days, stayed with friends who cared for him for two weeks and then went home.<\/p>\n

Combs still has some swelling in his lower extremities. And he has a giant, hockey-stick-shaped incision that traverses his entire abdomen.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, I\u2019m definitely better than I was, but some days I have to measure my progress with a micrometer,\u201d he said. \u201cMy body was more broken than I imagined it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Combs said his friends at CTL stood by and supported him during his ordeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were there every step of the way for me, from when my kidneys failed until the time I left,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re still there \u2014 very supportive, very caring. They let me know they were there for me and that I mattered. If you work for your entire lifetime and you work at one place that gives you that, you are a very blessed person. And I\u2019ve had that. It\u2019s wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the surgery, Howes and Combs have remained in touch, even having lunch together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect we\u2019ll have a lifelong relationship,\u201d Howes told Combs. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely that connection. You\u2019re walking around with what used to be my kidney. Now it\u2019s your kidney.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howes said the transplant experience has made her an evangelist for people becoming living kidney donors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel gratified that I was able to help Phil in a fairly significant way for a very small sacrifice on my part,\u201d she said. \u201cShare your spare. Everybody has a spare.\u201d<\/p>\n

People interested in becoming a donor candidate can call the University of Cincinnati Kidney Program at 513-584-7001 or the National Kidney Foundation at 513-961-8105 in Cincinnati or 614-882-8184 in Columbus.<\/p>\n

View the original post at daytondailynews.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt For nearly two decades, they both worked at Wright State University at the same time, not far from each other. But they never met. Then in a very cosmic way, their paths crossed when Joyce Howes donated one of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":53424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[715,730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53704"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145573,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53704\/revisions\/145573"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}