Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOPEWELL LENGTH: Medium
Potter, 35, of Hopewell, on Wednesday is scheduled for his fourth kidney transplant in 25 years. He's also had four hip replacements.
Potter received his last transplant in 1983 from his mother, Ella Seeser. But that kidney is no longer functioning, so Potter has been on dialysis three times a week.
The treatments so exhaust him, Seeser said, ``it takes him a day and a half to get his energy back up.''
``We're kind of anxious to get him off dialysis because he's been doing that for so long. We're hoping this will be the lifetime kidney,'' she said. ``We all kind of stick together when it comes to his health.''
A new kidney also is a priority because dialysis will not be successful forever. Eventually, collapsing blood vessels make dialysis impossible.
Potter's 27-year-old brother, Earl Seeser, will be the donor this time. Surgeons at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals in Richmond will perform the operation.
Ella Seeser and Earl Seeser will fly from their Florida home for the operation through Angel-Flight, a group of pilots who volunteer their time and resources to help with emergency medical flights. They also flew up on Angel-Flight in April, but doctors postponed the procedure.
In preparation for the surgery, Potter has been taking medication to prepare his system by reducing antibodies that would make his body reject the foreign tissue.
``They've come a long way since 12 years ago,'' Ella Seeser said.
Potter's hip trouble didn't begin until he had to take a lot of medication following the first transplant operation, his mother said.
``The medication for the hip worked against the kidney, and the kidney medication worked against the bone,'' she said.
by CNB