06/06/2024
It's Tommy: This is a message from Jerry:
Hi ya, kids! I hope this note finds you and your family well and happy.
I’m writing to ask you for a favor. Well, more than a favor, I am asking you to save my life.
Almost 3 years ago, I was stricken with a catastrophic illness; so serious that many people thought I would not live.
I spent 5 ½ months in the hospital. Yes, you read right: 5 ½ months. And every day without one exception, my marvelous wife Pam came to the hospital to be with me. I would often sleep around the clock for 3 and 4 days. But conscious or not, I knew she was there. I could feel her beautiful presence. She sat by my bed and held my hand for countless hours. She had to endure the many, many horrors during those 5 ½ months. Twice she was told I would not make it through the night. I miraculously survived but the illness did a number of things to my body: I couldn’t walk when they sent me home. I lost 50 pounds. Another result of this disastrous illness, I am in “end stage renal failure.” Doctor speak for “my kidneys no longer function.”
To stay alive, I have been on dialysis for three years. Every other day. The process takes 6 hours at a time. I lay in a recliner with two needles in my arm the size of railroad spikes while the machine cleans my blood. The treatment leaves me exhausted.
Dialysis is not something I would recommend to family and friends. But it keeps me alive until I find a kidney donor.
There are currently 110,000 people in the U.S. waiting for a kidney transplant; unfortunately I am one of them. You may have a family member or friend who is also in this situation. I hope my story will raise awareness of the need for living kidney donors to help me and the many others who are suffering.
I want to live, of course, for Pam. We’ve been together for quite awhile and to this day we are very much in love. We have so much we want to do. I do not want to leave her.
I want to live for my marvelous friends.
I want to live for my sister, Wendy and her family.
I want to live to continue my efforts to stop and prevent cruelty to animals, at which I’ve been working since I was in my teens.
I want to live for our family of 2 cats and yes, 2 dogs!
(When this first happened to me, a few close friends including my brother, Jeff offered me a kidney, but they were disqualified due to pre-existing medical conditions.)
I very much hope you will consider being my kidney donor. I know this sounds scary at first, but the more you know, the more OK you’ll feel about this. You can totally live with 1 kidney. Your life and lifestyle will not change one bit. In fact, my doctors tell me that shortly, neither of us will know anything happened. Life will return to normal for both of us.
There is a friend, however, who (I never asked-he came to me to offer one of his kidneys) He has stlod by me every step of the way until we were both qualified. Then came a glitch that devastated all of us: I have anti-bodies in my blood that increase the chances my body will reject his kidney.
I know this sounds a bit scary at first, but you can totally live with one kidney. Your life and lifestyle will not change at all. In fact, my doctors tell me that shortly after the transplant, neither of us will know anything happened; life goes on as normal for both of us.
You will find below two links. The first takes you to the Scripps Kidney Donor site, which will answer all your questions and hopefully dispel your fears.
Of course, you’ll want to talk to your family about this. Forward the links to them.
The second link is to the Scripps Kidney Donor registry. Signing up does not mean we’ll be at the hospital the next day. There will be plenty of time after you register to learn more and make a final decision. The fantastic transplant team at Scripps can answer all your questions.
We - meaning you and The Jeff and Jer Showgram had on hell of a 28 year ride didn’t we? From the beginning, as we got to know each other, we thought of us as a family. Trite again but very true.
I know many people across the county who do a morning radio show. And I assure you they do not have a relationship with their listeners as we did. Not even close. We had something very special going.
So, Pam and I very much hope you will consider being my donor. Not only will you be saving my life, but you’ll be giving us our lives back. In 1000 lifetimes I will never be able to adequately thank you, but I will try for the rest of my life.
BTW, if you have a family member or friend who might be interested, please forward this note with the links to them.
If you’d like to chat, here’s my number: (858) 344-8785
I cannot think of a good way to close this, except to thank you for reading, and thank you for listening for nearly three decades.
With my love and thanks,
Kidney Transplant info:
https://www.scripps.org/services/transplant-services/kidney-transplant
Registration form:
https://www.scrippslivingdonor.org
Note: click on “Click here to take the living donor screening”
When you get to it, click on the named recipient” button
Under recipient info – Name : Jerry Cesak, Date of birth: 05/11/1951
