“My little sister, Vickie Cockerham, is a small woman with a huge heart. When she found out my IgA nephropathy was about to put me on dialysis, she told my parents and me that she did not want her big brother to die, so she was going to give me a kidney.
“We went through the testing, and even though we were a perfect match, the doctors thought her kidney would be better suited for someone else because of our size. I’m a big guy, and she’s 5 feet tall and super tiny. She’s tough, and she was determined to give me a kidney; but since they thought it was for the best, she donated to the UAB Kidney Chain and actually helped even more people that way.
“Before my transplant, I had been trying to keep working a 12-hour shift at a papermill running a machine that made toilet paper; but it was getting tougher every day. My kidney function was down to about 10 percent. I was weak and out of breath all the time and struggled to walk up a set of stairs.
“Now I feel better, everybody tells me that my color looks good, and my kidney is doing great. My nephrologist says I now have the blood work of a healthy man with two good kidneys.
“I have a lot of people to thank for getting me to this point, though there will never be a way to fully express my gratitude to them. How can you repay someone for giving up such a vital part of their bodies to help you live? You just hope they can come close to understanding.
“My sister; my donor, whom I have not met to this point; and my lifelong best friend, Calvin Wood, who stayed with me the whole time in Birmingham after my transplant — all of them are why I am here today.
“Calvin has also had a kidney transplant, so he prepared me for what to expect. He wasn’t part of the UAB Kidney Chain, but he told me everything that was to come. Then he took care of me afterward and drove me around Birmingham and did whatever I needed him to do. It was like we were on a big campout when we were kids.
“I hope to meet my donor someday, and if I do, it is probably going to really bring out the emotions in me. I think I’m a strong guy and pretty tough, but I’m also pretty emotional and there’s a good possibility I will cry. That’s fine with me, though, because it’s OK for men to cry, especially when they are tears of joy.”