Gulf Pine Catholic

12 Gulf Pine Catholic • December 25, 2020 “In the emergency room, my blood pressure was 260/140,” said Dr. Coulter. “I was in dire straits. Lab work had been done and my creatinine had risen from nine to 14. There was no longer a question of whether or not we were going to start dialysis. We were going to start it then.” In an effort to control what was happening, the emergency room doctor asked Dr. Coulter if he had ever been intubated, which means being put on a breathing machine. “I told him no and, at that point, as a clinician, I realized how bad things were,” said Dr. Coulter. “At that time, I will tell you very honestly, I was more con- cerned with the salvation of my soul.” Dr. Coulter asked Chloe to drive to St. Elizabeth Seton to inform their pastor Father Sergio Balderas of what was happening with her dad. “I needed to go to confession and receive the final rites of the church,” he said. “I was dying. “As I was being transferred from the emergency room to the surgical bed in the ICU, there was Father Sergio. He had his holy oils in his hands. He had his t-shirt on and his funny tennis shoes that he always wears. I was never more excited in my life to see a priest. I go back to something the nuns who taught me always said: ‘Children, you want to receive the final sacraments before you face God.’ And I was calling in all my chips. “The first thing Father Sergio said to me was, ‘Todd, God loves you.’ That phrase was like the words in the Balm of Gilead. It gave me tremendous peace. Father Sergio heard my confession. He gave me absolu- tion. He gave me Holy Communion and then he gave me the Rites of the Anointing of the Sick. “I always tell people I got a sacramental trifecta. At that point, I was saying, ‘Ok, Lord, I’m ready.’ But the Lord had other plans.” Shortly thereafter, Dr. Coulter began two-and-a-half sessions of dialysis three nights a week, which eventu- ally turned into six-hour sessions, three nights a week. “I wanted to participate in a nocturnal long-term program, because one of the things I was trying to do was continue to work while I was being dialyzed,” said Dr. Coulter. “We continued that process until about January of 2019, when I was able to transition into a home-based dialysis program.” However, in the interim, lab work showed Dr. Coulter to have an elevated prostate specific-antigen (PSA). “Dr. David Spencer Jr. performed a prostate biopsy and, multiple biopsies later, I was given a low-grade Gleason stage prostate cancer diagnosis,” he said. “The bottom line is you can’t have any evidence of cancer in your body at all and get a transplant, because you will spend the rest of your life on immunosuppressant agents. If you have cancer smoldering in the face of immunosuppressant agents, it’s like having a fire and throwing gasoline on it. So, you would lose the trans- plant and, subsequently be fighting cancer. “I had gotten some advice from Dr. Todd Holman, a fellow parishioner and Dr. Francis J. Selman, a retired urologist. I had gone to both of them crying and asking what was going on. Dr. Holman and Dr. Selman both advised me to get it taken out. I had already gotten a colonoscopy done by Dr. John David McKee -- another Catholic doctor -- and there was no evidence of cancer. Everything else was good.” By the time he was found to be cancer-free, Dr. Coulter had already applied to the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s transplant program. “They were the first ones to put me on the universal donor list in about March of 2018,” he said. Once Dr. Coulter became comfortable discussing his diagnosis, he started sharing it with people. “My friend and patient Terri Frederick, another St. Elizabeth Seton parishioner, has always supported me. In fact, she applied to the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson to be a donor,” Dr. Coulter said. “She got turned down as a donor, but came to me and said she wanted to go to Father Sergio and talk about the fact that one of our parishioners had kidney failure and was on dialysis, and needed some help.” So, on one weekend, Father Sergio allowed Frederick to speak on Dr. Coulter’s behalf, at each Mass. Kidney, anyone? About a decade ago, Luke Brenner’s brother in-law, Michael Wimberly, donated a kidney to someone. “I didn’t think anything of it, other than that was a good thing to do,” said Brenner. “I didn’t know any- thing about kidney failure, and I didn’t know anybody who had ever had it. So, it didn’t really resonate with me.” A few years later, Brenner came across a Facebook post about a single dad and policeman in Utah who was suffering kidney failure. After finding out that the story wasn’t old or fake news, he sent the man a Facebook friend request. “He didn’t accept it right away, so I sent him a mes- sage. I said, ‘Look, I’ve got a kidney. I don’t know what kind of shape it’s in. I’ve had cancer, but I’m clear of the cancer, so that should be a plus.’ I didn’t hear any- thing back,” said Brenner. “I called my oncologist, Dr. Allison Wall, and asked her if she could tell me what blood type I have and if I would be okay to donate a kidney. She said I would have to undergo a lot of tests but I should be fine. So, I sent the guy another message. He accepted my friend request but he never replied to my messages. I sent a third message and, again, got no response. I figured the ball was in his court but, for whatever reason, he never responded.” Meanwhile, Brenner ran across an Instagram post about a father of three who needed a kidney. “I don’t know why, but it weighed heavily on my mind,” said Brenner. “I decided that, if the first guy doesn’t respond, I’m going to reach out to the second guy.” Although he never responded to his messages, Brenner learned that the first man he reached out to did have a successful kidney transplant. A couple of days later, Brenner found out that Dr. Coulter, who he knew but didn’t know well, was in renal failure and in need of a transplant. He wanted to reach out to Coulter to offer a kidney, but was dis- suaded from doing so because Coulter’s condition was not yet pubic knowledge. So, when Brenner heard Frederick speak about Dr. Coulter’s condition one Sunday at the 8:30 a.m. Mass, he was ready to spring into action. “I’d been waiting on this for almost a year now,” said Brenner. “I was bound and determined to give that kidney to somebody. “When my brother-in-law did it, I didn’t realize how serous kidney failure was, how terrible dialysis was and how life-threatening it was. I didn’t know how much of an improvement it would make.” After Mass, Frederick gave Brenner a phone num- ber for the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Brenner reached out to the hospital and received a long questionnaire to complete. Following completion of the survey, Brenner’s case went through a review process, and then a panel of doctors and surgeons would have the final say. It was during this process that Brenner approached Dr. Coulter to find out if he had heard anything about Brenner being a potential donor. Dr. Coulter had not. According to Dr. Coulter, Brenner was one of four live donors -- the third from St. Elizabeth Seton, who had been turned down by the University of Mississippi, mainly because of history with cancer. By that time, Dr. Coulter had already decided to apply to the transplant program at Tulane University Medical Center in New Orleans. “I had an initial appointment with Dr.Anil Paramesh, who would end up being the surgeon who removed Luke’s kidney to give to me,” said Dr. Coulter. After a battery of tests, it was determined Brenner was an ideal donor. Brenner was told constantly throughout the process that he could back out of the surgery at any time, no questions asked. “I was like, ‘What? Are you trying to talk me out of it?’” he said. “After about the third or fourth time, “I said, ‘Look, there’s not a thing you can say or do to talk me out of it.’ I understood the risks. I watched the DVD they sent me -- well, most of it…or some of it.” Brenner, 38, and his wife, Janell, are the parents of two children and foster parents to five. “They were all on board with it,” said Brenner. The surgery was scheduled for March 25, 2020. Ready, set…pandemic. “Feast of the Annunciation, we were ready to go,” said Dr. Coulter. “And then the pandemic occurred.” Since a live donor kidney transplant is considered elective surgery, unlike a cadaveric kidney transplant, which is considered emergency, Dr. Coulter’s operation was put on hold. “They weren’t doing any live donor kidneys in the United States,” said Dr. Coulter. “That was really frus- trating for so many reasons.” The surgery was rescheduled for May 25. SEE DR. COULTER, PAGE 13 “All I could say was thank you, Jesus because, a Dr. Coulter From page 7