LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As an officer with the Louisville Metro Police Department, Michael Abernathy doesn’t scare easily but his story is all too familiar.
“In my profession, I run toward bullets,” he said. "Going into surgery, I was nervous. Getting the diagnosis, I was nervous.”
Abernathy was first diagnosed with hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure, when he was 17.
He had been treated for the condition over the years, but admits he was not as attentive to it as he perhaps should have been.
Fast forward to June 2024, now 32 years old, Abernathy is now recovering from a kidney transplant.
“Right now, six months after the transplant, I feel like a new person. I feel like the energizer bunny with new batteries in his back,” he said.
Kimberly Vessels, an advanced nurse practitioner with Norton Healthcare who specializes in heart health, said Abernathy's story is "not unique to us." Vessels is part of Abernathy's treatment team.
"We see in our practice African-American men who suffer from hypertension, that has gone untreated, that has caused organ damage,” she said.
Untreated or under-treated hypertension can reduce the ability of blood vessels to function properly and filter blood effectively. Over time, this can reduce the flow of blood to the kidneys, impairing their ability to function.
As we know from prior reporting in our “Color of Health Series,” this is particularly problematic for African-American men, because the onset of hypertension tends to come much earlier in age compared to other racial groups. This contributes to statistics showing Black men in America, as a group, have the lowest life expectancy in the country.
“I never wanted to place responsibility of raising my son and daughter on someone else. That is something that is designed for me,” Abernathy said of his effort to regain his health.
His willingness to aggressively adhere to his treatment plan was critical.
“Had [Michael] not listened or not done what he needed to do, he would have developed heart failure,” Vessels said. “His heart would’ve gotten weaker along with his kidneys overtime.”
Abernathy knows he’s a success story. But, for him, it’s about more than that. His story is a cautionary tale and a call to action for others.
“If you want to value the time you have with your loved ones and be here, you have to value your health,” he said. “Keep health at the front of your mind, especially as a man, as a Black man. The stresses we face and that we deal with, we are more susceptible to different things. We have to be aware of it. Take care of yourself so you can enjoy life."
Blessings from a friend
The wait for a kidney transplant can take years. Abernathy was able to receive his transplant in a much faster timeframe thanks to the selflessness of a friend.
“In total, the entire process of my kidney failure was about 18 months,” he said. “Currently standing, the kidney transplant list runs about five to six years. I was blessed enough to meet a man named Mike Marlow from the church that I currently attend. He donated a kidney on my behalf to someone in New York, which then boosted me up the list to receive my transplant faster.”
Abernathy is referring to the Kidney Paired Donation (KPD), also called the kidney exchange, which is part of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.
Sometimes a transplant candidate has someone who wants to donate a kidney to them, but tests reveal that the kidney would not be a good medical match. The kidney exchange gives that transplant candidate another option.
In KPD, living donor kidneys are swapped so each recipient receives a compatible transplant. In this case, Marlow donated his kidney to someone who was a match. That in turn allowed Abernathy to move up on the transplant list.
“His generosity had a direct impact on me and my family,” he said.
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