Local Man Seeking KidneyEddie Hartman needs a kidney.
Hartman, 53, has been an area resident since 2000 and is the owner of Lake City Tech.
The father of four daughters, he’s suffering from stage 5 renal failure from an incurable disease called Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS).
The disease has destroyed his nephrons, so his kidneys cannot filter toxins from his blood. He is in desperate need of a kidney transplant.
Hartman is on 12 hours of dialysis a day at his home.
“I’m tied to a machine for eight hours, and then I can get off the machine for the last four,” Hartman said, saying he has since developed chronic fatigue syndrome.
Only able to work his business part-time, Hartman frequently and suddenly becomes very tired and has to take a nap.
“Even a half hour is helpful, but I have no control of when it comes. It just hits me, and I start to get physically sick if I don’t go lay down,” he said.
Hartman discovered he had reduced kidney function after a regular doctor check up in 1999. At that time, his kidneys were operating at 60% function.
“I had no symptoms whatsoever,” Harman said, “even when my kidneys got down to 19%.”
In 2005, Hartman had a routine physical done and the doctor referred him to a nephrologist.
“I was down to 40% function,” he said. “He did a biopsy on my kidney and diagnosed me with FSGS.”
Hartman said he’s modified his diet and is preparing his lifestyle for a new kidney. He’s lost 40 pounds.
He needs an O positive blood type donor.
Hartman, despite his struggle, is hoping to promote organ donation through his process.
He is registered at IU Medical Center in Indianapolis.
Anyone who wants to follow his story can visit www.EddieNeedsAKidney.com.
Anyone who wants to learn more about donating a kidney can call the IU Medical Center at 800-382-4602 and provide Hartman’s name.
Even if a donor is not a match for Hartman, if a kidney is donated to another person that Hartman finds, then Hartman will receive the next O positive kidney.
Also, all testing and medical costs are covered by Hartman’s insurance. There will be no out-of-pocket expense to the donor.
Hartman wants donors to know that if they were to donate on a Friday, they’d be back to work on Monday.
“It’s a minimal recovery time, just a couple days recovery time for the donor,” he said.
Hartman’s mother and cousin also suffer from FSGS. It runs in the family.
“I’m still an organ donor, because when my time is up, my good organs can go to somebody else and my kidneys can go to nephrology students so they can see what a diseased kidney looks like,” Hartman said.
More information about the donor process is available at www.iuhealth.org/transplant.
