Dear Richard Smith,
This may sound strange to hear this coming from myself but, dude… I’m so proud of you. I never relish in our successes but, for once I’m telling you, “You did good kid and I am proud of you.”
Patience, resilience, and strength are the traits you embody. As a child, you were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes which led to a kidney disease diagnosis in 2019. Because of this, your battle with sobriety ended and you’ve refused to go back since. Then, as the world shut down in 2020 so did your kidneys and dialysis became your purgatory.
Breaking down in every way led to a seizure and 4 days on life support. With a knee injury during the seizure, you were now using wheelchairs.
Dialysis appointments 3 times a week for 4 hours draining your life and weakening your bones combined with constant knee biopsies was your routine. Your routine left you without a knee and you still carried on.
Now with rods for a knee and fear of leaving this party you call life early you pursued a kidney transplant. The many dreams of the life you wanted kept you fighting. Constantly being added and removed from the transplant list caused mental torture. Being diabetic made healing impossible.
When this began we knew life wouldn’t be the same but never did you expect your worst nightmares to manifest. December 2022, something very wrong was occurring. You couldn’t remember the last thing you said, unable to think, express, and exist; the rods were destroying your foot and you were going into sepsis. All of your life you’d say, “If I were to my leg I’d kill myself.” In that doctor’s office, you were told, “ Keep your leg and die or amputate and live.” Not accomplishing your dreams, unspoken thoughts, words, and actions flooded your mind. That day you chose life.
Waking up from the worst pain imaginable, a new Richard Smith sprouted. Now full of life, laughter, motivation, and gratitude, this new chapter became your opportunity to turn this loss into a win. A lifelong dream of being able to trek Japan was your fuel to walk again. Through your amputation you learned how to adapt, and think differently; every obstacle was a challenge, every failure was a lesson learned, and every setback was a bump in the road. Health-wise you stabilized.
In June 2023 you started learning to walk again. The next mission? Conquer kidney disease. Back on the transplant list, a few more challenges arose. Through losing vision in your right eye in October and breaking your ribs from prosthetic training you were dropped from the list again. Feeling defeated and half blind the future looked dark. Giving into the fear in February 2024 you went to tell the dialysis center to end your life-saving treatments.
Something in your core wouldn’t allow it. Giving the transplant list one last shot they required you to be able to walk. Within a month you surpassed the test. In May 2024, listed once again your sister tested to donate her kidney to you. To your amazement, she was a perfect match! Things accelerated and a surgery date was set: September 4th, 2024.
Since the transplant our health has been the best it’s ever been, we walk all the time! No wheelchairs!! We live life with the biggest smile, pure happiness in our heart, and absolute gratitude to exist in this moment. After 5 years of dialysis, many near-death experiences, emergency room visits, amputations, and going half blind I know I can overcome whatever challenges I face. Although we have half of our vision and one leg we see the beauty and light in life and continue moving forward one step at a time.
Through our resilience, positivity, and determination I’m able to say, “You did good kid and I am proud of you!”