Hurley’s Story

A Young Diabetes Diagnosis

At the age of 16, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I will confess that, as a teenager and into my twenties, I was not good at taking good care of myself and managing my diabetes. I paid the price, and the unmanaged diabetes started taking a toll on my body.

Diabetes Took a Serious Toll on My Health

By the age of 25, the repercussions started to become very evident. It started with nerve damage that caused neuropathy of the bladder and gustatory sweating. By the time I turned 30, it was determined by my urologist that diabetes had also caused infertility and I could never have children of my own. Over the next few years, my health issues continued to worsen progressively. I developed carpal tunnel, cataracts, detached retina and trigger fingers.

After spending many years behind the wheel as a commercial truck driver, where healthy eating habits are hard to follow, I suffered two back-to-back strokes in November of 2017. These strokes affected my right side, causing weakness in my right arm and leg. As I was recovering in the hospital, I came to terms with the fact that my trucking career was over but was grateful that the effects of my stroke were so minimal — I knew it could have been much worse.

Second Chances

I knew now I had been given a second chance to get this life right. I wanted to give back. I stumbled across a young adult special needs social group that needed volunteers. Once I fully recovered, I began my journey as a friend and volunteer within the special needs community. But even though I had found this new meaning, this positive path forward, it did not erase the many ways diabetes had taken its toll on my body. Fast forward to the end of 2019, both of my kidneys had failed and I had to go on dialysis.

Though dialysis is a life-saving treatment for people in kidney failure, it is also a life-changing experience. I was hooked up to dialysis for 10 hours every night. Fortunately, with the type of dialysis I was on — peritoneal dialysis — I at least had some degree of freedom since I could do it from home. Even with dialysis though, my nephrologist recommended transplant. He thought that I was a good candidate for a Simultaneous Pancreas Kidney (SPK) transplant and referred me to the Penn Transplant Institute in November of 2019 to be evaluated. The SPK transplant would give me the chance for much greater quality of life. So, I took the chance. Working with doctors. Sabiha Hussain, MD and Vishnu Potluri, MD, MPH — along with many other members of the Penn Kidney Transplant Program — I completed the transplant evaluation and was added to the transplant waitlist in early 2020.

The Call That Changed My Life Forever

On July 31, 2021, after spending a year and a half on dialysis, I received a call at 2:00 AM from the Penn Transplant Institute team. They had a matching organ donor! That call would change my life forever.

My successful, 10-hour surgery was led by Dr. Ty Dunn, Surgical Director, Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation at Penn Medicine. On the second day after my surgery, I was walking a mile around the transplant wing unassisted and without the need for physical therapy. After a week recovering in the hospital, I was able to return home. Once the 52 staples and the drainage tubes were removed, I really began on my road to recovery. One-month post-transplant, with medical clearance from my transplant team, I was able to return to the gym four to five days per week. Shortly after, I returned to volunteering within the special needs community.

I would not be here if not for my unknown hero, my donor. I get to live my life because of their selfless decision to be a donor. I will be forever grateful. My best advice is don’t ever take life for granted. Most of us are only given one chance at life. I, however, was fortunately given two. Stay strong, stay healthy, and never give up!

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