BonnerSprings.com

Dec. 26, 2008, recalls Randy Freeman, is the day everything in his life would change.

After celebrating what he remembers as an “awesome Christmas” with his family, the Edwardsville resident came down with a sickness. He kept telling himself he had the flu and would bounce back in a matter days.

As he lay on his parent’s couch, becoming sicker by the hour, it became clear something wasn’t right.

“I would have laid on that couch and died there,” Randy said.

Eventually his mother, Phyllis Freeman, city clerk of Edwardsville, couldn’t stand it any longer.

“I said ‘I’m done, you have to see a doctor,’” Phyllis remembers. “I couldn’t stand for him to continue with that kind of pain. It was excruciating. He was never comfortable. Sitting, standing, laying down, he couldn’t get comfortable.”

Phyllis and Randy went to the doctor, where a myriad of tests were done to find out why this 205-pound man, who exercised regularly and never drank or smoked, was experiencing that kind of pain.

The family returned home for the night. The next morning, with Phyllis out running errands, the doctor’s office called. Randy’s kidneys were shutting down and he needed to be admitted to the nearest hospital.

“I can’t remember how I made it home,” Phyllis said, remembering the fear she felt when her husband called her home. “I can’t tell you what speed I was driving. All I was doing was praying and crying and asking the Lord ‘Don’t let this happen, don’t let this happen.’”

Within 90 minutes of that phone call, Randy was in intensive care and about to start on a journey that would lead to having both his kidney’s removed, getting dialysis treatment three times a week and discovering the true meaning of friendship.

After Randy recovered in intensive care, doctors seemed stumped on how to bring down his blood pressure. He was told it was so high, doctors were surprised he wasn’t having a stroke. Before Randy could be placed on the national transplant list, he had to be healthy, with his blood pressure in a normal range.

The next year-and-a-half would have Randy in and out of the hospital, as his high blood pressure caused various complications, such as seizures.

But Randy wasn’t going to quit the fight.

“I have two little kids. I had to get better,” Randy said. “I wasn’t ready to sign out just yet.”

When all the medication failed, Randy agreed in April to have both of his kidneys removed, bringing his blood pressure down to a normal level. Staying alive now by going to dialysis, which is a machine that simulates the functions of the kidneys, three times a week, Randy was starting to feel like his old self.

Despite the fact his strength was growing every day, Randy knew dialysis was not a long-term solution.

In the midst of his illness, Randy went to visit an old friend with whom he used to play in a band. The two met up to listen to some music and catch up on each other’s lives.

Sitting at a table during a bar’s open jam night, Randy and his friend Terry Long had an unexpected conversation.

“(Terry) asked me, ‘What’s your blood type?’” Randy remembers. “I told him A-positive, and he took a medical card out of his wallet, slapped it on the table and said ‘What do you know.’”

“It took me several beers to get the courage up to actually ask him, to break the ice on the topic,” remembers Terry from that night. “I finally got brave enough to ask him about being tested so I could donate a kidney to him.”

Terry was tested almost immediately. He was the first of Randy’s friends or family to be tested. He was a match.

“It’s very unheard of I’ve been told,” Terry said. “Usually they have to test a bunch of people to find a match.”

As Terry now goes through the procedure of further health screenings and meetings with a social worker to make sure he understands the magnitude of his gift, Randy’s friend of more than 20 years has not wavered in his decision.

“It’s a pretty freaky thing to think about,” Terry said. “But the way I look at it, I don’t want to have to bury my friend. I’m probably doing this to be a little bit selfish because from my standpoint, I want to keep my friend.”

Terry said throughout the years, Randy was more than just a best friend. He became a brother. He said losing Randy would leave “a gigantic empty hole” in his life.

“I think of donating a kidney as a very very small price to pay for keeping my friend around,” Terry said. “I don’t view it as a great big sacrifice, even though it is pretty freaky to think about not having two kidneys. But you have to put yourself in his shoes. He doesn’t have any kidneys right now.”

As a way to thank Terry for his gift, the Freeman family has planned a benefit event for Saturday, Aug. 7, to raise money so that in the months that follow the transplant surgery, Terry will be able to pay his bills during his leave of absence from work.

The benefit will begin at noon with a Poker Run, which will begin and end at Speedway Grill, 11635 Kaw Drive. Registration will be at 11 a.m. with kickstands going up at noon for the ride. The cost will be $15 per bike or $10 per rider.

Following the Poker Run, a night of live music, raffles and a silent auction will start at 3 p.m. and go to 1 a.m. at the Speedway Grill.

Randy will be playing guitar and singing in three bands performing that day — Johnny Rockit and the Weekend Rockstars, Low Jones and Run Around Naked. Two other bands — Lucid Fiction and Lost Dog — will follow.

Terry and Randy are still waiting to set the date of the transplant surgery until a few more tests are complete. But the two expect the surgery to take place between now and the end of September.

Until then, Randy said he was so thankful for the friends and family who have gotten through this tough time.

“They’ll never know how much it’s meant to me,” he said. “I’ll never be able to say thank you enough.”

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