If local resident Terry Jamerson doesn’t receive a kidney soon, he might only have months left to live.
After suffering a “widow-maker” heart attack in February, Jamerson found out his high blood pressure had severely damaged his kidneys.
“I thought the heart attack was gonna take me,” he said. “But that was just the start of it.”
Terry was put on dialysis at the DaVita Mayland Dialysis Center in Spruce Pine three times a week for three hours. According to his wife Sarah Jamerson, however, the dialysis won’t be enough for long.
“The doctors have said his kidneys are just so weak,” she said. “It’s not going to be able to give him enough strength in the long run.”
Both the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville and Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem have accepted Terry into their transplant services, but he has yet to find a kidney.
Right now, Jamerson is on a waiting list and expected to find a kidney in three to five years, but doctors said he doesn’t have that long.Sarah said the situation is so dire, doctors are willing to forego a blood type match.
“The doctors said they will take pretty much any kidney at this point,” she said. “As long as they are healthy, not diabetic or anything, doctors said he could take it.”
Both Terry and Sarah said it would mean the world for someone to donate a kidney to him.
“If someone was willing to do something that huge for us, God bless them,” Terry said. “It would be a miracle.”
“Truly the gift of life,” Sarah added.
Sarah is currently in remission for uterine cancer and said when she was undergoing treatment, Terry was always right by her side.
“He was so wonderful and took such good care of me during it all,” Sarah said. “When we were in Chicago at the hospital there, he would go get me my favorite lunch everyday and he was always there for me.”
Now, Sarah said it’s her turn to take care of Terry and give back for all that he gave her.
“I’m doing all the research, taking all the steps and just trying my hardest to find him a kidney,” she said. “I’m just doing what I have to to keep him with me another 20 years.”
While it is difficult to find peace during this process, the couple said they are finding comfort in prayer, their church, friends and family and quiet evenings sitting by the North Toe River off of Toecane Road.
“We come down here to the river nearly every evening and watch our dog enjoy the river, listen to the water and pray,” Sarah said. “This land is truly healing and we’re just so blessed to be here.”
To contact Sarah and Terry regarding a possible donation, Sarah said it is best to reach them on Facebook at Facebook.com/sarah.jamerson.399.