Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 3, 1995 TAG: 9507030102
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TONYA WOODS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
With smiles and jokes, Sherri Davis and her brother, Hervey, remember when their lives didn't have as much laughter as they have now. After two months, their memories still are vivid about the time they were lying side by side on stretchers at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Sherri, 24, was about to get a new kidney; Hervey, 19, was her donor.
As nurses prodded Sherri's arm in search of a vein for the IV, the nearly six years of having her life controlled by doctors' appointments, medicine and dialysis treatment overwhelmed her. She couldn't hold back her tears.
``All of a sudden, I was just so tired and so scared,'' Sherri said.
But just when she thought a storm of crisis would engulf her spirit completely, Hervey broke through her clouds.
He sat up on his stretcher and said, ``Sherri, don't worry about it. Everything is going to be all right.''
After that it was lights out for the Davis siblings as they were wheeled to surgeries that would change both their lives.
During what can be an agonizing time for parents - having your only children in surgery - Hervey Davis Jr., their father, said he was confident they would come out even better than when they went in.
``No time escaped without somebody calling us to let us know everything was going well,'' he said appreciatively.
Davis and his wife, Jan, didn't see their son again for nearly six hours. Sherri spent two days in the intensive-care unit after her surgery.
When Hervey awoke, the first thing he wanted to know was if his sister was all right. When Sherri regained consciousness, she would not rest until a nurse took her to Hervey so she could see that he was doing fine, too.
Their mother said Hervey's unselfish act of giving has brought him and his sister closer than they've ever been.
With a shrug of his shoulders and a coy smile, Hervey said, ``It was no big thing.''
But for Sherri, it was a big thing. By going through with the kidney transplant, Hervey gave his sister a new outlook on the world.
``It's like I've got the chance to start my life over now,'' she said, ``and it's all because of him.''
For Sherri, starting life over will mean continuing her studies at Virginia Western Community College. After being in and out of school because of her illness, she will begin her sixth year at Virginia Western this fall. Eventually, she'll transfer to Radford University in preparing for a career as an elementary school teacher.
Hervey will join her at Virginia Western this year as a freshman. He postponed college for a year to go through with the transplant.
``She's my sister, and she needed a kidney,'' Hervey said. ``So I gave her one of mine. I'm just happy for my sister because she has the chance to do different things.''
Hervey began a series of tests in January that lasted until the day of the operations in May. He said preparing for the transplant wasn't painful.
``I had to drink a lot of water all day from 10 to 3 in the afternoon so the doctors could see how well my kidneys worked,'' he said, recalling one of the tests. ``I was just glad when it was over.''
``I'm so proud of my son for the sacrifice he made, and I'm just as proud of my daughter because it took a lot of courage to endure all of this,'' their mother said. ``I'm just thankful it's over and both my children are well.''
Hervey's incision healed so quickly, he left the hospital early. Sherri wasn't far behind.
``When they were in the hospital, both of them nearly drove the nurses crazy'' by visiting each others' rooms when they were supposed to be resting, Jan Davis said.
But, she added, ``The nurses couldn't believe they were related because they are like night and day.''
Hervey, according to Sherri, ``lets nothing bother him.'' Sherri, her brother says, ``worries too much.''
Growing up with a father in the Army, Sherri and Hervey spent most of their childhoods moving around overseas. But they were always sure of one thing: They had each other.
The Davis siblings spent most of their early lives in Hanau, Germany; Sherri graduated from the American high school there. The family moved to Roanoke, their parents' hometown, in 1991. Hervey graduated from William Fleming High School three years later.
During the summer of 1988 when she was 17, Sherri began to have physical problems that weren't easily diagnosed. When her cholesterol level reached 600 and her legs and arms began to swell, she and her family had no idea what was wrong.
It turned out she had focalsclerosis, a disease that causes kidney failure.
``When she first got sick, we were just praying it wasn't something really serious,'' Jan Davis said. ``It's hard when you're a long way from home and you don't know what's wrong,'' she added with tear-filled eyes. ``It's just really hard.''
The Davis family went through an emotional whirlwind. In 1991, Sherri was put on dialysis, in preparation for a kidney transplant. Her name was put on a waiting list for a kidney at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, 26,698 people were on waiting lists for kidneys from nonliving donors in 1991. They would wait for a kidney for up to 518 days or longer. Sherri waited nearly three years.
In 1993, she started another type of dialysis at home four times a day. That made simple things like going to the movies and out to dinner afterward out of the question, because her dialysis treatments were necessary every four to five hours.
The stress of waiting for a kidney and enduring uncomfortable dialysis was enough to drain most of Sherri's energy, her mother said. So when Hervey was 16, the family considered him as a possible donor, but he was too young. From then, Hervey said, the family settled for waiting for a kidney from another donor, until Hervey turned 18. By then it was 1994, Sherri still didn't have a donor, and Hervey was of the age of consent.
``I was glad for that, because you're supposed to have a good chance of your body accepting a kidney from a living person,'' Sherri said.
There is an even better chance of the body accepting a kidney from a sibling, said Joel Newman, spokesman for the United Network of Organ Sharing.
``Siblings donating organs make up more than half of the transplants that take place each year nationwide,'' he said. ``The recovery rate is faster and the survival rate is more long-term when relatives donate kidneys.''
Sherri still needs one more operation. The tube in her stomach that was used for dialysis has to be removed. And she takes 43 pills a day to help her body adjust to the kidney. She has to have a liquid medicine with every meal.
Hervey and his mother say that since the operation, they've seen positive changes in Sherri.
``She eats a lot more,'' Hervey said. ``She's even given me some competition in that.''
But more importantly, said Jan Davis, her daughter is much happier.
``Before, I felt like there wasn't much I could do each day,'' Sherri said. ``But now I want to do everything I can.''
by CNB