Josh may need your kidney

At the age of 21 in 2009, Joshua Surovey was diagnosed with having a chronic kidney disease.

During what would normally be a simple biopsy to see what exactly his kidney was doing, things went wrong. He nearly died twice and had to receive 6 blood transfusions. Despite the mishap, the kidney problems were still there.

In 2012, Surovey started dialysis and worked hard to get healthy losing 160 pounds along the way. He was also told that he needed a kidney transplant, news that is often devastating.

Surovey said that the journey has been mentally exhausting. His first thought was, "Why me?" He said, "I was down on myself."

However, those feelings of depression soon changed even though the kidney is still needed today. It was as if after the initial shock, a fire was lit underneath Surovey and he had a new found passion to live. Surovey said, "God brought me through this man, honestly." He went on to state, "I'm looking forward to life, I'm living life!"

Lebanese-American artist Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) once stated, "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars." Some would suggest that Surovey is on track to stand strong in the near future, while others would agree he is already stronger than most.

While he is happy to be alive, 12 hours of dialysis every single night is quite cumbersome. He has to go through about three bags of fluid nightly. Surovey stated, “Every night, there’s no breaks.”

The fluids to undergo dialysis at home are shipped to Surovey. Two bags of fluids are in one box and the box weighs 35 pounds. Keep in mind, he uses three bags nightly. So, if the 28-year old heads out of town for 5 nights, he has to bring with him a little over 260 pounds of fluids to use in the dialysis machine. In other words, Surovey says that travel is “troublesome.”

Right now, Surovey is not married and does not have children, but that is one of his long term goals. “Everything that I’m doing I’m trying to better myself so I can be there for my family in the long run,” Surovey said. In further discussing the idea of starting his own family he said, “I don’t want to be in a situation where my health is going to decline and I can’t provide for them, so I’m trying to get myself to where I can have a good career at the end of this and start a family.”

Surovey confirmed that he is in need of a Type O donor and that the donor will be able to live a normal healthy life after donating.

The National Kidney Foundation reports that many people who need a transplant of a kidney fail to receive one due to a lack of donors. Right now there are over 101,000 Americans in need a kidney, but only 17,000 people receive one each year. Furthermore, 12 people die daily while waiting on a kidney to be donated.

After donating a kidney, the donor can easily live a normal, full life as if the donation never occurred. Reports also indicate that the donor’s medical bills are fully covered by the insurance of the kidney recipient. If something should go wrong for the donor in the future, their name is automatically placed at the top of the kidney donor list.

Once a kidney is located for Surovey, who currently lives in Clarksville, Tennessee, the procedure will be done at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. Vanderbilt has one of the oldest and most experienced kidney transplant programs in the United States, having performed over 4,000 transplants since its inception in 1962. According to the Vanderbilt Division of Kidney and Pancreas Transplantation, “The Division was also the first transplant program in Tennessee to introduce the minimally invasive technique of laparoscopic donor nephrectomy for living donor kidney transplants, and now performs the largest number of living donor kidney transplants in the state.”

If you would like to learn how you can donate or to see if you are a match, CLICK HERE today. You can also call the Vanderbilt Kidney Transplant Center at 615-936-0695.

It was once one of the largest Army and German P.O.W. Bases in the South

Prior to World War II, a large military base formed in Union County Kentucky. The United States Government came in and gave farmers below what would be considered fair market value at the time for their land. The flat acreage where you could see as far as 16-miles proved to be the perfect training grounds troops to learn war weaponry of guns and tanks. The rural area is a little over an hour away from Clarksville near the Indiana state line.

Camp Breckinridge in Union County was the headquarters of the 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

As World War II broke out in 1937, the U.S. Army quickly realized they needed a place to house German Prisoners of War. The base in Union County became the official P.O.W. prison camp housing 3,000 Germans.

The base population stood at about 45 thousand residents prior and during WWII and later the Korean War. The large base was also home to basic training for new Army recruits in the 30’s and 40’s.

Today, the population in Union County, Kentucky is about 15,000 residents. Of course, that is a drastic drop compared to the 45,000 military residents and 3,000 inmates that called Union County home between 1930 and 1950.

Most of the old World War II era barracks that were left standing were sold to investors in the 1970’s as the land was divided, but the majority of the military classrooms, prison walls, prison cells, cafeteria’s and stores on the massive base were torn down when the government shut the base down. Investors later hired contractors to perform low cost renovations on the interior of the 1930 era barracks dividing them into duplexes so that they could be rented out to residents of low income brackets.

As we drove through what was once the base, every 50 to 100 feet you could see large smoke stacks protruding through heavily dense wooded areas that were to my right and left. I then stopped the truck and walked into the woods to further examine the stack's. I could still see the concrete foundations to old military buildings that probably went for miles. There were 50 or more stacks on the land in the area near the old barracks.

A railroad once ran between the military base and the Ohio River, which was only about 7 miles away. Supplies were shipped to the base on barges and by rail. 
On the banks of the river, we found a massive chain that may have once been used to tie off the barges while they unloaded. The large chain was about six inches in diameter.

As you look at these photos, imagine it a base that was once alive and vibrant.