DISCOVERING A DONOR CLOSE TO HOME

A LAWYER WITH AN INCURABLE KIDNEY DISEASE FINDS A DONOR AND A TRANSPLANT INSTITUTE

By Eric Barton Photography by Jerry Rabinowitz

Mike Haggard has a whiteboard in the office of his Coral Gables law firm that he uses to game plan upcoming trials. He bought a second one for a very different purpose: to list out the people who might be willing to risk their lives for him.

At the time, Haggard knew his best chance for staying alive. He needed to find someone to donate a kidney to him, and he needed to do so quickly.

A lot has happened to Haggard since. He found the donor he needed, had the transplant surgery at Tampa General Hospital that would prolong his life, and, in the process, learned just how important it is to find the right hospital to handle such procedures.

All of this began with something simple—a bit of back pain Haggard said he felt one day in 2002. He got an MRI, and the original diagnosis was a herniated disc. Finally, the doctor asked if he had any history of kidney disease in his family.

“Right there I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” Haggard recalled. “All that family history came back to mind.”

While Haggard was growing up, several people in his family were impacted by polycystic kidney disease (PKD). He hadn’t thought about it for years, but after he mentioned it to his doctor, tests confirmed he had it too.

AS MUCH AS WE WANT TO HELP IMPROVE THE HEALTH AND LIFE OF THE RECIPIENT, WE HAVE TO PROTECT THE LIVING DONORS FROM IMMEDIATE AND FUTURE HARM. WE ARE NOT SUCCESSFUL UNLESS BOTH DONOR AND RECIPIENT DO WELL.” —DR. JAMES HUANG

An incurable and inherited disorder, PKD gradually caused cysts to develop in Haggard’s kidneys, which slowly lost function over the course of years. Haggard had the disease for 13 years before his doctor told him he would need to get a new kidney soon. If he couldn’t fi nd one, he’d spend years on dialysis, and the disease could progress to a point where it could cost him his life.

On his whiteboard, Haggard listed out the people closest to him. His wife, Bekki, volunteered fi rst, but she wasn’t a compatible match. They put out a call to friends and family, and 13 people came forward.

After problems at a Miami area hospital, Haggard reached out to someone who suffered from PKD. “He said, ‘Stop. You’ve got to get up to TGH right now. They are taking good care of me.’”

The TGH Transplant Institute is one of the busiest transplant institutes in the country and has the largest live donor kidney transplant program in Florida. As the only West Central Florida hospital to offer transplants for fi ve organs, TGH surgeons perform everything from heart to liver transplants. With half a century of transplant surgeries under its belt, TGH is among only a handful of hospitals in the country to have performed more than 11,000 transplants—more than 6,500 of them kidney transplants.

Once Haggard went to TGH, things “began happening like clockwork,” he said. His brother-in-law, Allen Buckhalt, stepped up and offered to be a donor. At fi rst, Haggard and his wife were both reluctant. Bekki Haggard recalled thinking that it could jeopardize her little brother’s career as an Army helicopter pilot. “I said to him, ‘Look, you need to think about this. We’ve got other people, and we don’t want this to affect your fl ying abilities.’”

But Buckhalt had a feeling that he was a match. He went to TGH and, sure enough, he was an ideal candidate.

On October 6, 2016, the Haggards drove up I-75 toward Tampa with Hurricane Matthew on their heels. Buckhalt went in for surgery fi rst, and Dr. James Huang, surgical director of living donor renal transplantation at TGH, came out to tell the Haggards that the fi rst step had gone well. Haggard went in next.

“As a sister and a wife, it was a nerve-racking situation,” Bekki Haggard said. “I’m concerned for my husband but, of course, for my little brother too.”

But the surgery went off without a hitch, and soon both men were recovering, with Bekki Haggard going from one room to the other to check on them.

It was exactly what Huang planned—a positive outcome for both patients.

“As much as we want to help improve the health and life of the recipient, we have to protect the living donors from immediate and future harm,” Huang said. “We are not successful unless both donor and recipient do well.”

T h e h e a l t h a n d s u p p o r t s y s t e m s o f p o t e n t i a l d o n o r s a r e e v a l u a t e d c a r e f u l l y b e f o r e e a c h t r a n s p l a n t i s s c h e d u l e d . T h e s u r g e r y i s m i n i m a l l y i n v a s i v e , s o m a n y d o n o r s a r e o u t o f t h e h o s p i t a l t h e n e x t d a y a n d m a y r e t u r n t o w o r k i n t w o t o t h r e e w e e k s .

And the surgery hasn’t kept donors like Buckhalt from returning to demanding jobs, such as fi refi ghting or fl ying helicopters.

Buckhalt, who had joined the military in college just after 9/11, was redeployed to Afghanistan for his fourth combat tour not long after the procedure. It’s a fact that Buckhalt often mentions to potential donors who call him to ask for advice before a similar surgery. Said Bekki Haggard: “Allen tells people, ‘Six months later I was fl ying combat missions in the Middle East.’”

The Haggards also receive calls from those suffering from PKD or who are in need of an organ transplant, sometimes three or four times a week. They’re happy to discuss the particulars of how it went, and they also never end those calls without mentioning TGH.

“Without a doubt, they were amazing,” Bekki Haggard said. “It wasn’t just the doctors and the nurses who were so helpful. It was also the coordinators on the front lines who helped us with all the red tape and scheduling.”

After Mike’s transplant, the Haggards wanted to give back to TGH in a meaningful way. They established a fund to help hire a full-time team member to support the Transplant Institute with its outreach and education regarding living donations.

A s i d e f r o m r e a l i z i n g t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f fi n d i n g t h e r i g h t h o s p i t a l , t h e H a g g a r d s a l s o l e a r n e d t h e b o n d t h a t o c c u r s d u r i n g a n o r g a n d o n a t i o n . B u c k h a l t w a s a l r e a d y f a m i l y , b u t H a g g a r d s a i d h e n o w s h a r e s a b o n d w i t h h i s b r o t h e r - i n - l a w t h a t ’ s h a r d t o d e fi n e f o r a n y o n e w h o h a s n ’ t g o n e t h r o u g h i t . I n O c t o b e r , t h e y c e l e b r a t e d t h e i r fi f t h a n n i v e r s a r y s i n c e t h e o p e r a t i o n , k n o w i n g t h a t i t c o u l d n ’ t h a v e h a p p e n e d w i t h o u t B u c k h a l t .