{"id":48102,"date":"2019-02-27T00:44:48","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T00:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/02\/27\/i-dont-want-to-die-380-walter-reed-patients-are-looking-for-kidney-donors\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:46:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:46:37","slug":"i-dont-want-to-die-380-walter-reed-patients-are-looking-for-kidney-donors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/spouse\/2019\/02\/27\/i-dont-want-to-die-380-walter-reed-patients-are-looking-for-kidney-donors\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I don\u2019t want to die\u2019: 380 Walter Reed patients are looking for kidney donors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s Note:<\/b><\/i> This story has been updated to add contact information for anyone interested in learning more about kidney donation. <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BETHESDA, Md. \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t want to die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phyllis Obeng Dadzie said the words quietly, but with a slight chuckle, as though it was obvious. She was sitting with her husband, Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Agyeilarbi, in a small room at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, shivering under a pink winter coat that covered her small frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven months ago, Dadzie, a native of Ghana, was a healthy 25-year-old, pregnant with the couple\u2019s second child. But in August, complications during the third trimester and the birth of their son, Prince Charles, sent Dadzie into stage 5 kidney disease and, ultimately, to Walter Reed, where she now gets dialysis three times a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s fully aware of what could happen if she doesn\u2019t get a new kidney soon, but she\u2019s not ready to give up \u2014 not with a 2-year-old and a baby at home who need their mom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want to get a new kidney and live (for) my kids again,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s all that I pray for every day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dadzie is one of about 380 patients at Walter Reed who are on the national kidney transplant<\/a> list \u2014 from troops and military dependents in their young twenties to military retirees who\u2019ve dedicated their lives to service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But with a national list 100,000 people long, getting a kidney that way could take years, said nurse Vilda Desgoutte-Brown, the hospital\u2019s living donor coordinator. In the meantime, dialysis could cause heart, lung and thyroid problems, or other complications, such as diabetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA lot of people end up dying on the machine,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Touched by stories like Dadzie\u2019s, Desgoutte-Brown is trying to spread the word about her beloved patients, in hopes that others in the military community would consider coming forward as potential donors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The dialysis center at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center has several patients in dire need of kidney transplants. (Natalie Gross\/Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After all, you only need one healthy kidney to live a normal life, she said, pointing out that some people are only born with one and may never know it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c(Kidney donation) really doesn\u2019t affect you unless you gain a lot of weight and stop taking care of yourself as before,\u201d Desgoutte-Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s really no difference at all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Walter Reed patient, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Ruth Grayson Scott, was ready to be an organ donor herself 30 years ago when her brother needed a new kidney. But when subsequent tests revealed she, too, was born with the same genetic polycystic kidney disease that killed their father and uncle, she knew there was a possibility she\u2019d eventually need a new kidney herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But she expected to have more time \u2014 not for the disease to affect her liver, as well as her kidneys, by the time she was 44. She got a double transplant in April 2017, but 11 months later, her new kidney stopped working, started free floating in her abdomen and almost killed her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, her hopes were \u201ccompletely destroyed,\u201d she said \u2014 only to be dashed again recently when a potential donor was disqualified near the end of the matching process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Dadzie, Scott also comes to the hospital three times a week for dialysis, traveling 30 miles each way to and from her home in Virginia. It\u2019s not exactly the type of traveling she\u2019d wanted to do with her husband in their retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really want a kidney,\u201d said Scott, now 57. \u201cThis is not quite the life we planned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Ruth Grayson Scott travels 30 miles one way to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center three times each week to receive dialysis. (Natalie Gross\/ Staff)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Patients at Walter Reed have been trying to help each other find donors, posting pleas to their followers on social media, said Dadzie. She\u2019s been especially grateful for that, since her family lives in Ghana and the couple has no friends in Maryland, where they were transferred from Japan in November for Dadzie\u2019s treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desgoutte-Brown said ideally, enough donors would come forward that the hospital could start an internal chain or swap. For example, if two patients have friends who are willing to donate kidneys but aren\u2019t matches, the patients could potentially trade donors, depending on blood type and other factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main thing is that donors be healthy, with no history of cancer, diabetes and other diseases and genetic disorders that could be passed to a recipient, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think for me, just seeing these young people \u2014 mothers and soldiers and stuff like that \u2014 was really kind of touching to me,\u201d said Desgoutte-Brown. \u201cI was just like, \u2018My God, we have to try to do something.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone interested in learning more about becoming a donor can email her at vilda.o.desgoutte-brown.civ@mail.mil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Dadzie is doing her best to cope with the difficulties and take care of her kids despite the constant pain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m a strong woman,\u201d she said. \u201cWe are just looking for a God-saving soul to just help me to live again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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