Ryan Fuller

[LovinIt]

Sunday, May 3, 2009 , 12:00 a.m. Giving back to Dad

Fullers in Cleveland, Ohio, for kidney transplant

 

By: Ward Gossett

(Contact)

An ordeal from the past isn??™t keeping Ryan Fuller from returning to the hospital. Love for his father saw to that.

 

Fuller had his fill of hospitals when knee surgery a couple of years ago resulted in an infection that prompted three more procedures for the former Soddy-Daisy High School wrestler.

 

Tuesday he will donate a kidney to his father, longtime Soddy-Daisy wrestling assistant Trevor Fuller, at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

???I love my dad,??? Ryan said. ???He has always been there for me, whether it was wrestling or school work or anything where I needed his support.???

 

Trevor has been on dialysis for more than two years due to a condition known as AIG nephropathy ??” in layman??™s terms, kidney failure.

 

???It has been a hard life for him, balancing school with being a wrestling coach, a father and a husband,??? Ryan said. ???This is a way to repay him for all he has done for me.???

 

Trevor is hooked up to a dialysis unit in his home for nine hours each night. In addition to being plugged in from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., he also has to perform at least one ???recharge??? at some point during the day.

 

???We have tried to keep life as normal as possible, but it gets old quick. It rules your life,??? Trevor said.

 

The family made a limited ???bucket list??? of things they wanted and could afford to do, and Trevor even packed up the dialysis unit and necessary supplies for a Bruce Springsteen concert and a duck-hunting trip to Mississippi.

 

Although it gave him an opportunity to live a more normal life, Trevor Fuller at first refused his son??™s offer. He was going to take his chances on another donor, possibly from a cadaver list.

 

???He didn??™t say that he didn??™t want me to do it. He said I wasn??™t going to do it,??? Ryan said. ???I had to talk him into it.???

 

Trevor had been turned down several places. He has a high phosphorus count, which can lead to rejection of the transplanted organ even though Ryan was a perfect match.

 

???I still have trouble with his decision,??? Trevor said. ???I have a lot of worries even though there is no real risk of him getting what I have. He??™s 21 years old now, but he??™s still my little boy. I??™m supposed to take care of him, but he??™s going to take care of me.???

 

Ryan was tested in December to make sure he was a match, and though he thought about and investigated life with one kidney, he never wavered.

 

???He was as insistent about doing it as I was not doing it,??? Trevor said.

 

His other son, Mikey, a wrestler at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, also was a prospective donor, but Ryan wanted the responsibility.

 

???He said Mikey still had a chance (at competition) and that he had had his chance,??? Trevor said. ???There was no hesitation on his part, but it??™s still tough for a father to accept that kind of decision. We??™re at crunch time ??” it??™s time to go ??” and it??™s still scary.???

 

They left late last week for Cleveland.

 

???The Cleveland Clinic is one of the premier transplant hospitals in the country,??? Trevor said. ???On one of the visits we made, we met a man from South Africa who was there for a transplant.???

 

He and Ryan will check into the hospital Monday with surgery scheduled for Tuesday. Ryan will be hospitalized for a week or two with full recovery expected to take a month. Trevor will remain at the hospital or in a nearby residence for up to two months so doctors can monitor his physical stability and make sure his body accepts the kidney.

 

Although Ryan sees his act as nothing out of the ordinary, Trevor still is humbled by the sacrifice.

 

???I??™m no more special than anybody else,??? he said.

 

His family would disagree.

[THEANIMAL]

GREAT STORY. THANKS FOR SHAREING.

 

GOOD LUCK FULLER FAMILY. I'LL KEEP YOU IN MY PRAYERS,

 

THE ANIMAL

[hoosierdad]

Excellent piece by Ward concerning the Fuller family.

 

Makes you stop and think about your own father.

 

Best of luck and know that my prayers are with you.

[2@140]

Great Story! Great family! Best wishes for 100 percent success. Ryan, thats a special gift that not everyone could give.

 

The Creagans

[FES]

Fuller Family,

Best of luck with recoveries and surgeries. That takes a big man in Ryan to take on that type of task in life.

 

Does anyone know anything else following up with ryan and his dad?

[bearfan]

Fuller Family,

Best of luck with recoveries and surgeries. That takes a big man in Ryan to take on that type of task in life.

 

Does anyone know anything else following up with ryan and his dad?

 

Any news on how the Fuller's are doing? Our thoughts and prayers have been with their family and we hope everything went well.

[TojoYamamoto]

Thank you for the kind comments about Ryan and our family situation. Today I was able to get out of my room and get on the internet and look around some and came upon this post while I was looking for the results from today's state.

 

Ryan and I had our surgery on May 5 and it went incredibly well. Many times it takes maybe a day or two to even up to a couple of weeks for a new kidney to really start functioning; Ryan's began to work immeidately and has been working great since. Our doctor was amazed at how well it worked. He is recovering well, still a little sore, stiff, and slow moving. I am also doing well. I am having some problems with the antirejection drugs, but that is nothing uncommon and my dr. is confident everything will be dialed in within a few weeks. I will get my staples out late this week and I'll need to remain in the area for quite a while until we are sure there are no problems with rejection. Ryan plans to be back home by June 3 so he can take some summer classes at UTC and get caught up.

 

Our family is so thankful for all of the thoughts and prayers from home. I can't even put into words here or anywhere else how I feel about Ryan and what he has done for me. I love my boy.

[2@140]

Thank you for the kind comments about Ryan and our family situation. Today I was able to get out of my room and get on the internet and look around some and came upon this post while I was looking for the results from today's state.

 

Ryan and I had our surgery on May 5 and it went incredibly well. Many times it takes maybe a day or two to even up to a couple of weeks for a new kidney to really start functioning; Ryan's began to work immeidately and has been working great since. Our doctor was amazed at how well it worked. He is recovering well, still a little sore, stiff, and slow moving. I am also doing well. I am having some problems with the antirejection drugs, but that is nothing uncommon and my dr. is confident everything will be dialed in within a few weeks. I will get my staples out late this week and I'll need to remain in the area for quite a while until we are sure there are no problems with rejection. Ryan plans to be back home by June 3 so he can take some summer classes at UTC and get caught up.

 

Our family is so thankful for all of the thoughts and prayers from home. I can't even put into words here or anywhere else how I feel about Ryan and what he has done for me. I love my boy.

 

Great news and thanks for the update. Glad to hear things were such a success. Hope things continue to progress this well!