Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 17, 1993 TAG: 9308170274
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CAROLYN CLICK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Michael McClanahan's beeper went off around 2 a.m., instructing him to call the University of Virginia Medical Center. The news was good - officials had located a donor match for him.
McClanahan, who works as a salesman for Ewald-Clark photo and video center in downtown Roanoke, underwent the nine-hour operation Sunday night.
"They say he's doing great," said Sallie Jackson, McClanahan's sister. She and her parents and two sisters spent a few minutes with McClanahan after he was taken to the intensive care unit.
McClanahan was listed in good condition Monday.
After McClanahan received the telephone call, he dialed an Ewald-Clark colleague and friend, Cheryl Oyler, waking her and her husband to pass on the good news.
"He said, `I just wanted to tell you I'm not going to be here on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, or Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday," Oyler said with a laugh.
Oyler knew then that the long wait was over. "I said, `When do you have to be in Charlottesville?' "
As with all transplant operations, timing is critical. McClanahan was told to be in Charlottesville at 4 a.m. for the transplant team to make the necessary preparations for the surgery.
In a January profile in the Roanoke Times & World-News, Oyler and other workers at the family-run company spoke of McClanahan's dedication and enthusiasm despite his battle with diabetes.
"We can come in with a sore throat or a cramp in our leg, and we complain," said Frank Ewald, president of the Ewald-Clark Corp. "But he's always cheerful, always smiling, making light of his plight."
McClanahan was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 5. About four years ago, he developed diabetic retinopathy, a condition that causes changes in the blood vessels of the retina and eventually led to the loss of an eye.
During treatment at UVa for his eye problem, doctors determined his kidneys were failing. Shortly after, he began dialysis, a three-times-a-week process to cleanse his blood of impurities.
McClanahan, a Roanoke County native and graduate of Cave Spring High School, had talked with his doctors about undergoing only the kidney transplant, because kidneys are more readily available and easily transplanted.
But McClanahan chose to wait until both organs were available.
He also turned down offers from sisters Sallie Jackson and Jackie Porter to donate one of their healthy kidneys. His third sister, Laura, also has juvenile diabetes, and he was concerned that she may one day need a kidney, although she is now able to control the disease with insulin.
"Or they may have their own personal diabetes problems," McClanahan said in January. "Even if they are willing to do it, I can't accept it right now.
"No matter how bad it gets, I have relatively good health, I can walk, I can see," McClanahan said in January. "There's nothing stopping me."
by CNB