Meet the Greens

I would like to tell you about a great friend of mine and his journey of faith while loosing both kidney's and partial eye sight.  Brent Green and his wife France have been married 15 years.   They have no children. Brent is only 47 years old and has to undergo home dialysis  5  nights a week.  He has been doing dialysis since September of 2012.  Both of Brent's kidneys were removed due to kidney disease called (PKD) Polycystic Kidney Disease that lead to complete kidney failure. (PKD) was inherited from his father's side. (PKD) is a kidney disease that causes growths of numerous cysts on the kidneys and other organs such as the liver.  Brent now has Polycystic liver and the pain from the liver disease is worse than the pain he experienced with both kidneys.  One of his kidneys weighed 12 pounds upon removal!  (The average weight of a human kidney is about 1/2 pound).   He trusted God to remove his first kidney  in February of  2013 and trusted God to remove his second kidney in October of 2013.  Brent also never lost faith in God when he  lost part of his eye sight in June of 2012 due to a  genetic mutation of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy(LHON) inherited from his mother's side. As I mentioned above Brent now has Polycystic liver. The disease will possibly lead to complete liver failure but  Brent's prayer as of now is to receive a kidney.

Brent is the most humble person I know.  You would never even know he had medical problems if you didn't know him personally.  He never complains even though he has every right to. He still works a full time job even though he could get disability.  Despite his severe leg cramping from dialysis and liver pain every day,  he still works a full time job and attends church regularly.

Brent never had children but still wanted to teach children about Jesus.  He taught AWANA at our church (First Baptist of Hazel Green) for 5 years and I had the honors of working side by side with him.   Brent bought many of the children's meals, books, and  AWANA vest,  every Wednesday night and lead several children to Christ. While leaving AWANA one night he noticed his eyes were not focusing.  He made an appointment with the eye Dr. and went through the process of seeing several different eye doctors in Huntsville and Birmingham. Finally after spending a week in the hospital on steroid treatments  the diagnosis of (LHON) finally came. (LHON) affects the central vision of the eye and there is no cure. If Brent gets a kidney it is possible some of his eye sight may return.
 Brent was also one of our head ushers at our church.  Brent still comes to church regularly, and  gives testimonies at several local churches.
Brent depends on a machine to keep him alive. The dialysis process takes 3 1/2 hours every night and he is stuck with 2, 14 gauge needles. Brent's wife is a nurse practitioner.  What a blessing sent from God! The Lord paired Brent and Francis together knowing that Brent would need her and her skills one day.  The process is very stressful  on him and his wife and he is always in a lot of pain. Brent's farther died on the dialysis machine.  What a sign of his remarkable faith! Brent trusts God every night to get him through the dialysis process.

Nxstage Dialysis Machine

Brent's wife is is not an acceptable donor for Brent due to her diabetes and hypertension.  Brent has been on the kidney donor list for 2 years and has had 8 failed donors. 
If you would like to become a donor please go to the Vanderbilt website at http://www.vanderbilthealth.com/transplant/29111 and fill out the form,  place Brent Green's name in the "intended recipient's" field.  Or call Vanderbilt's Kidney transplant line at 615-936-0695.
Even if you don't match, there is a SWAP program in which another recipient unmatched donor could use Brent's unmatched donor.  But both patients still get a kidney!  Brent's insurance pays for the donor's testing and surgery.
Donor guidelines: BMI (Body Mas Index) should be less than 35, must have controlled blood pressure with out medications, no diabetes, no regular use of arthritic medication, and no history of metastatic cancer, and you must live in the United States.  Brent's blood type is "O"