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Everyday heroes
Family sticks together through transplant
BY CYNTHIA COLEMAN • STAFF WRITER
 | | Stepping outside, away from a hot and humid bingo fund-raiser recently, the Robertses and friends sit and enjoy the cool evening air. Pictured are (l-r) front row: Wes, Jayme and Shelly Roberts; second row: Debbie Roberts, Richard Roberts Sr., Tabby Avis, and Ray Huffman. The event was held to raise money for the family - son Jayme had just given his father a kidney. |
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WARM SPRINGS - After his accident, actor Christopher Reeve said, "I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles." The Wes Roberts family might consider themselves ordinary individuals, but to many people in this community, they possess the strength, perseverance and endurance of heroes as they fight for their father's life.
Wes has been a type 1 diabetic for 30 years, managing his disease with insulin and diet. He worked as a carpenter, first at the The Homestead and later self-employed, with son Jayme as partner. But soon after starting his business in 1999, Wes' diabetes "went out of control," according to daughter, Shelly, and affected his heart, resulting in a heart attack in 1999. Wes needed heart stents to clear his blocked arteries.
 | | Shelly Roberts is a young woman who does not like to sit long in one place. During the fund-raiser, she made sure to speak to everyone, thanking them for their support. In between visits, she sat with her family making sure they had enough food and drink. During a break in the game, Shelly (left) shared a laugh with her mother, Debbie. |
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While such stents are common procedures, done safely across the country every day, for a diabetic this procedure can be dangerous. The dye used to either coat or guide a stent's path can damage a diabetic's kidneys if not carefully watched and flushed out of the body. Wes' first procedure was successful. But in 2003, a second procedure left his kidneys irreversibly damaged. During the next four years, Wes received 10 more stents.
In January, the Roberts family went to hear the latest report on the state of Wes' kidneys, expecting to hear Wes would need dialysis. But the news was worse than they expected - with dialysis, Wes had six months to live. He needed a new kidney.
 | | Surrounded by the chatter and excitement of the bingo action, Jayme and Wes Roberts find a quiet moment together. |
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Finding a matching organ would not be easy, they learned. With heart, lung and liver transplants, donors do not have to be as closely matched as they do for kidneys. Plus, the surgery is much more delicate and complicated, especially for a living donor.
Wes had heard of others in the community who had trouble finding matching kidneys, even when they had several family members to test. "My wife worked with a man who needed a kidney and he has six brothers but none were a match," Wes recalled. Many members of Wes' extended family are also diabetic and were therefore not eligible donors.
So Wes turned to his wife, daughter, and son, who were eager to be tested and donate a kidney. Wes and his wife, Debbie, have two children - Shelly, 26, and Jayme, 23. Debbie and Shelly were tested but did not match. Jayme and his girlfriend of two years, Tabby Avis, were also tested. Tabby was a close match and could have been a donor, but Jayme matched 100 percent, and the transplant surgery was scheduled at the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville for May 31.
Neither Wes nor Jaymie were nervous or anxious about their surgery, though they were concerned about each other, reflecting the close bond the father and son share.
A month after surgery, with good color in his cheeks, sitting upright and alert on the couch in his softly lit den, Wes reflected on the ordeal. The man of few words was calm and stoic. He watched tenderly as son Jayme shuffled in from his bedroom, followed by two small dogs.
Jayme had donated a kidney and prolonged his father's life, but the young, athletic man was having complications and not recovering well.
Jayme was a former star football player at Bath County High School, class of 2002. After graduating, he joined his father in the family business. Because of his athletic body - with taut abdominal muscles from a physically demanding job - doctors told Jayme he might have a longer and more difficult recovery.
Though a recipient's health is in grave condition, laparoscopic surgery for a live donor patient is no walk in the park. It requires the abdomen to be inflated, and several incisions to be made so obtruding organs can be moved aside.
Jayme, wearing a t-shirt and flannel pants, gingerly sat down on the couch across from his father. Though his face was thin and wan, his eyes sparkled as he talked about his father and the surgery.
"Because we share the same last name," Jayme said, "they had to keep us in different rooms."
Physicians used precaution to avoid removing a wrong kidney or confusing medications for father and son. They were kept apart before, during and after surgery. Debbie, Shelly and Tabby communicated for the two of them until they were strong enough to walk to each other's rooms.
Both men were impressed with the hospital and the care they received, from the transplant team to the nursing staff, though Wes said, "The doctor I saw was not the one who operated on me. I had never seen him before, but he did a good job."
One doctor in particular amused Jayme. "He talked about NASCAR," Jayme said, "and wore tennis shoes and jeans."
Jayme said he was surprised his nurses changed shifts every four hours, while his father's didn't. "My nurses worked the usual eight-hour shift," Wes said.
But both agreed one nurse, Susan, was everyone's favorite.
An hour into the conversation, Debbie arrived home from her fulltime job in Clifton Forge at Bacova Guild, Ltd. She nodded in agreement as each man talked about the care they received, but said she had been far more nervous.
"I was concerned about those taking care of my precious cargo," she said.
Jayme smiled at his mother's words while petting his dogs, Mollie and Trouble, the first a terrier mix and the second, a Jack Russell terrier. "When I came home, Mollie came in bed with me," he said, as Trouble lolled upon his lap and Mollie nestled against Wes. "My dog, Trouble, was so mad she wouldn't come near me for almost a week."
Tabby and the dogs kept him company during long, bedridden days, full of pain and restlessness.
Wes made a quick recovery, despite suffering another heart attack June 6, less than a week after his transplant. His heart required stents again, and he feared more damage from the dye, but his new 23-year-old kidney handled the dye well.
Jayme, on the other hand, did not fare as well. He found the stress of inflating his abdomen and moving his organs uncomfortable and painful. "The surgery also caused my stomach to sleep," he said, making recovery even more difficult with digestive complications.
Making matters worse, he required a blood transfusion following surgery.
Jayme had been instructed not to take any pain medication before surgery because it could thin his blood and cause excessive bleeding. But six days before surgery, with a severe headache, Jayme took a powdered pain reliever. "My head was throbbing," he said, "and I just couldn't take it anymore." He did not know it would take seven days for the medication to leave his system.
During surgery, he began to bleed internally and required a transfusion of six units of blood.
Then Jayme had an allergic re- action to the first pain medication he received after surgery, which made him hyper and agitated. In the recovery room, while other post-operative patients were slowly waking up, Debbie found Jayme was sitting up. "He was trying and trying to pull out the IV and other tubing," she said, frightened by her son's erratic behavior. Jayme was put on morphine the next day and the symptoms subsided.
Wes left the hospital after five days, and Jayme in six. They were told not to return to work until the first of August. Wes found it comfortable enough to travel, even with the heart attack and recovery, while Jayme said his healing process has been slow with several setbacks, such as bloating, nausea and vomiting, and irritability due to only four or five hours of sleep.
Shelly's boyfriend, Ray Huffman, was instrumental in the family's care, Debbie said. "He drove us to and from the hospital, provided moral support, kept everyone calm, and made sure everybody ate." Huffman kept working to help financially in case the Robertses needed money.
Since Wes and Jayme have been home, Huffman has taken over their chores. "He mows the grass and takes out the garbage," Shelly said. "He's willing to do whatever Daddy asks him."
On June 29, the community of Burnsville held a bingo fund-raiser for the family at the community center with more than 75 attending. Many individuals and companies in and around the county donated prizes, and $2,026 was raised to help the Robertses with medical expenses. The family has health insurance, but is quickly approaching coverage limits.
That night, the Robertses were surrounded by family and friends and enjoyed visiting and chatting with them. Jayme arrived later, looking pale, thin and weak, but spoke to several as he made his way to join his family. He waved and smiled for all when he won a bingo game. Before an hour had passed, Jayme stood and waved goodbye, leaving with girlfriend Tabby.
When his father, mother and sister returned home that evening, they found Jayme in poor condition. During the fund-raiser, Jayme said he could feel his abdomen swelling and fluids building up, pressing against the muscles along his back. Sitting at the event had been uncomfortable.
He was taken to Charlottesville the next morning in extreme pain. A gallon of fluid was drained, giving him some relief.
The following weekend, on his mother's birthday, many relatives arrived from West Virginia. Jayme was again swollen from his abdomen down, but delayed telling anyone so as not to spoil the occasion. "People knew I wasn't feeling good," he said, "but I held off going to the hospital until everyone ate."
This time he was admitted into the hospital for several days with more fluid drained. The transplant team was called to find the cause of fluid build-up and Jayme's overall poor health. It was discovered that during surgery, a microscopically small lymph node had been nicked. This tiny lymph node regulates the body's levels of fats and proteins. Because it was damaged, Jayme's body could not process fats, and they built up in his system. He was released home, but had to come back two more times for fluid to be drained.
Last week, he was released to home health care. "This is the seventh day Jayme's been on a pic line and has not gone back to the hospital," Debbie said last week. "Wes is doing great. As days go by, Wes feels better mentally as Jayme improves."
With a deep sigh, Debbie said, "I just want my son back, my wideopen son."
A home health care nurse comes once a week to draw blood and change Jayme's dressing. The first time the nurse came, she set up the pic line though which Jayme receives nutritional supplements, known as TPN. Once a day, for 10 to 12 hours, supplements drip through a needle inserted into Jayme's arm. TPN is used for patients who cannot get their nutrition through eating.
This week Jayme will go back to Charlottesville once more to be examined and will be taken slowly off the TPN. He told his mother once he is finally able to eat again, "I'm going to eat all my favorite foods - in one day!"
If the feeding tube does not work, Jayme will need surgery to repair the lymph node damage.
Wes has experienced cardiac problems intermittently since his transplant which have been diagnosed as caused by stress due to his concern for Jayme's condition.
"Dad sort of regrets getting the organ transplant," Shelly said.
Debbie corrected her daughter, saying there were no regrets by Wes, but watching his son's health problems has made him experience continuing cardiac problems.
The strain has gotten to Debbie as well. "My mother is drinking too much coffee, smoking too much - she's gotten bony!"
But Jayme has no regrets. "I am extremely glad to do this," he said. "If I had to do it over again tomorrow, I wouldn't think twice about it."
The Robertses, along with Tabby and Ray, would do anything for one another, and have already done more than most ordinary individuals.
The idea that others would not necessarily go through this for their own family members came as a surprise not long ago when Shelly gave a speech about organ donating to her debate class. A full-time student at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, Shelly had spoken eloquently in favor of organ donation, noting all members of her family have their driver's licenses marked as organ donors. The Robertses believe saving the life of another by donating an organ is natural and morally fundamental.
But after the speech, Shelly was shocked at her classmates' reaction. The majority said they would never give an organ or were repulsed at the idea of receiving someone else's organ. They gave her several reasons for not marking their licenses as donors.
"Several students feared that if they were in an accident and it was discovered their licenses identified them as donors, they wouldn't be saved - that the hospitals would let them die to get their organs," Shelly said.
Others believed in being "buried with the organs they were born with." Some students expressed religious concerns, believing their religion prohibits organ donation, though Shelly researched this and found no religion has restrictions against donations, though the Roman Catholic Church has reservations about donating a heart.
In spite of these overwhelming obstacles, the Roberts family continues to persevere and endure, and their efforts are truly heroic. They find strength in one another and in their family and community.
They may be ordinary Bath County folk who, as Shelly says, live in a hollow near Burnsville, work hard, and care about their family and community. Jayme is not only my brother, but he is also my hero," Shelly said.
For those who know them, all members of the family are heroes.
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