Oct 19, 2020 A Match Made in Heaven

Shameena and Arthur with sons Jaden, 10, and Joel, 8.

 

When her husband needed a kidney donation, a loving wife stepped up.

In August 2019, husband and wife Arthur Williams and Shameena Layne had no clue what was coming when Arthur, 64, went in for a routine colonoscopy. “Other than being overweight [at 217 pounds], I had no symptoms of anything,” Arthur says. He had been going about his normal activities, including his job as a supervisor for Jersey City Public Schools. “Nothing gave me a heads-up that there might be a problem,” he says.

A few days after Arthur’s procedure, however, Shameena, 32, fielded an urgent call from the colonoscopy doctor. “They needed to speak with him right away because tests showed his creatinine levels were high,” Shameena says. “I have a nursing background and knew that meant his kidneys were in trouble.”

In fact, the couple learned in a hastily arranged meeting with Craig Goldstein, DO, a nephrologist at Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC), it was the worst kind of kidney trouble: Arthur had end-stage renal failure. “His kidneys had almost stopped functioning,” Shameena says.

Arthur had two options: either to get a kidney transplant or to have dialysis, a medical procedure in which waste, extra chemicals and fluid are removed from the blood because kidneys can no longer perform that function. “I knew the toll that dialysis takes on the body,” Shameena says. “I didn’t want him to go through that.”

“I was having an emergency,” Arthur says. “It was the start of a journey we’ll never forget.”

IN SEARCH OF A KIDNEY

One route for getting a kidney is to use kidney-donor channels to connect with a donation from a newly deceased person. That was out of the question for Arthur because a typical wait time is six years. “We didn’t have that kind of time,” Shameena says.

That left the option of seeking a kidney donation from a living donor. Because only one kidney is needed to live a normal life, both the donor and the recipient can thrive after the procedure.

As their extended family learned what was happening, the couple’s oldest daughter and a sister and a niece of Arthur’s each volunteered to give up one of their kidneys to save his life. But blood or tissue tests found none of them to be viable candidates.

“I decided to get evaluated,” Shameena says. This time, blood and tissue tests showed a match.

“I was so happy that I could be the one to donate,” she says. “At the same time, I was sad that it had come to this place. I had all these different emotions going through me.” The promise of Arthur continuing a productive life without the burden of dialysis and his being available to their young sons, ages 10 and 8, were foremost in Shameena’s mind.

But she also worried about the risks of undergoing any major surgery. “I was scared, but at the end of the day, the emotions most predominant were love and happiness.”

Arthur found her courage humbling. “When she stepped up, it was an honor, to say the least,” he says. “I am so grateful for her kindness, her love, her friendship and for being the mother of my children.”

LIFESAVING CARE

The couple completed testing in February 2020 and awaited a surgery date at the Renal and Pancreas Transplant Division at SBMC, one of the largest kidney transplant programs in the country, which performs more than 300 transplant surgeries each year.

Surgery, however, had to be pushed back as the coronavirus pandemic raged. When elective surgeries restarted, the couple’s procedures were scheduled

Board-certified renal transplant specialist Samantha Aitchison, MD, headed the surgical team for Arthur’s case. She and Arthur hit it off over shared appreciation for the television series “Married to Medicine Los Angeles.” “I had the greatest surgeon in the world,” Arthur says. “She was thorough, efficient and kind in explaining what was happening, and she had a great team.”

Shameena appreciated that the team noticed her anxiety and offered a sedative to calm her nerves as she prepped for her part of the double surgery. “They secured the kidney from me before they opened him up,” Shameena says. “Once they had it and were ready, they put it right into him.”

Post-op, Arthur is following a healthy diet, as well as taking medication to prevent organ rejection. “Everything is progressing great and the doctors are very pleased with my prognosis,” Arthur says. “I’m even down to 200 pounds.” Shameena felt almost fully recovered after about three weeks. “I can’t tell that a kidney was taken,” she says. “I don’t feel a void.”

Instead, the two literally feel a part of each other. The transplanted kidney “ties me to him and him to me,” Shameena says. Arthur jokes that now they have to separate because they’re so close that they’re related.

The kidding ran deeper when Shameena came to Arthur’s hospital room the day after surgery.

“Babe, you can’t leave me now because you’re damaged goods, so you’re stuck with me,” Arthur joked.

“We’re stuck with each other,” Shameena said. “You’ve got to put up with me inside and outside.”

To learn more about the kidney transplant program at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, one of the nation’s largest, visit www.transplantkidney.org.