Warsaw resident Nick Parker has been on dialysis for five months and is in need of a kidney. Parker, 26, is the son of Mike and Deb Parker, Claypool. He is married to Beth Parker. During an interview Thursday afternoon at his home, Nick said he started having kidney failure last June. “I went to KCH to get a blood test and was told my kidney was failing,” Nick said. He said he was losing weight and was tired and has been on dialysis since January. He has dialysis for his kidneys three times a week in Warsaw. He was a mail carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and was walking 10 miles a day for work and that became hard on him because of the dialysis. He has been on sick leave since he got on dialysis. He had a kidney transplant six years ago at Indiana University Medical Center for his right kidney. His brother Chris Parker, 28, donated his kidney. The kidney is failing, and now he needs a kidney on his left side. “You can operate with only one kidney,” Nick said. His family members will be tested in a week to see if they qualify to donate a kidney. Nick’s wife Beth said it would be life-changing for him to have a new kidney. “It’s not easy to watch someone go through this. Especially someone you love so much and it would be amazing to see his kidney function normally,” Beth said. Nick said it would mean a lot to have a working kidney. “I could get back to my job and a normal life,” Nick said. He said he currently has two catheters in his body for the dialysis and it is difficult for him to do things he likes to do like playing baseball. The community is encouraged to donate a kidney for Nick and must be at least 21 years old and A-positive or O-positive blood types. They can call Sara Klingkammer, St. Vincent renal transplant coordinator, at 317-338-6701 to donate a kidney to Nick.
