Cortland Standard .net

By TYRONE L. HEPPARD
Staff Reporter
theppard@cortlandstandardnews.net
CORTLANDVILLE — From the patio in the backyard of her home on Levydale Park, local resident Sharon Welsh said Wednesday she never thought she would be in a position where she would potentially save someone’s life.
But that is what she did on May 14 — by donating her left kidney to a neighbor she knew growing up in her hometown of Mercerville, New Jersey.
Welsh said before marrying her husband, David, a Cortland County native, and moving to this area almost 25 years ago, she lived in New Jersey, growing up next to a man named Harry Fowler, a close friend of her parents.
“He’s known me since I was born,” Welsh said. “My parents and Harry and his wife live on the same street. His (son) David is my age, we grew up playing together.”
Welsh said it was actually through reading one of David Fowler’s posts on Facebook a couple of months ago that she heard his father was looking for a kidney donor.
“I immediately called him and said, ‘What do you need me to do?’” Welsh said. “Mr. and Mrs. Fowler are very generous, loving people. I didn’t even think twice when he needed a kidney. I was like, ‘absolutely.’”
On Friday, Harry Fowler, 73, said he was diagnosed with kidney disease about 10 years ago and doctors had been saying a transplant would not be necessary. But a check up earlier this year revealed he would need a to find a donor kidney within six to 12 months or he would have to be placed on dialysis.
Initially, Fowler turned to his immediate family, but none of those tested had the type A blood he needed for a match. As it is with similar organ transplants, one of the main criteria is for donors to have a blood type that matches the recipient’s.
Fowler said he was only two to three months away from needing dialysis when Welsh reached out and offered him her kidney.
“It just overwhelms you,” Fowler said. “Here was someone who grew up next to me (and) played with my son. She immediately responded and she was so positive about things. Sharon came through fantastically.”
Welsh, 48, said she talked to her husband and their three daughters about what she was about to do. Her oldest daughter, Elizabeth, 21, said Wednesday she and the rest of her family were supportive.
“I was really proud of her that she was doing something so selfless,” Elizabeth Welsh said.
After getting her blood tested in Cortland, Welsh said she learned she would be a match because she has Type O blood, meaning her blood is already compatible with every other blood type.
Once her blood type was confirmed, Welsh said she went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Transplant Institute and underwent medical and psychological evaluations before the surgery at the university hospital in May.
Fowler said the night before the operation, he visited Welsh in her hospital room to deliver her a note he had written to thank her, adding it was hard to find the words but in the end, he kept it simple.
“What can you say?” Fowler said. “This is a person that has changed your life. I (told) her that every day of the rest of my life I was going to have a better quality of life to spend time with my grandkids ... and both me and my entire family had thanked her.”
Welsh said doctors removed her kidney through a 6-inch incision in her abdomen and that surgery lasted a total of five and a half hours. In time, Welsh’s other kidney will grow about 30 percent larger to compensate for the missing kidney.
So far, the surgery has been successful.
Fowler said he is expecting his follow-up appointments to come further apart than they have been, which is a good sign. He added things should be back to normal for him within a year.
Welsh said despite a bit of fatigue, recovery is going well and she plans to get back to her two jobs — working as a bartender at the Red Dragon restaurant and tavern in Cortland and station cleaner for the state trooper barracks in Homer — later this week. She is expected to make a full recovery in 10 months.
She even participated in the Cortland Country Club’s first annual Transplant Golf Tournament Friday. While she was unable to take full swings because of the surgery, she said she was her team’s, “designated putter.”
“It was awesome,” Welsh said Monday. “It was the first one, so everyone had a great time. There was a lot of sponsors and a lot of great guests.”
Welsh said she feels like she has been blessed in her life and she wanted to pass on some of that blessing to someone like Fowler who she considers part of her family.
“I feel honored that I could help out someone,” Welsh said. “I’m just honored that I could do this for someone I love. I wanted to give him a longer, healthier, happier life.”