DALTON, Ga. — Greg Pellom celebrates the 25th anniversary of his kidney transplant today, saying he’s “extremely blessed.” 

Pellom, 55, of Dalton, said he received a transplant on Oct. 26, 1993, after being on a waiting list for three-and-a-half years. The kidney was from a 50-year-old woman who died in a car wreck. Pellom said he never had kidney problems before getting sick.

“I never smoked, drink (alcohol) or did hard drugs,” he said. “There is no history of kidney problems in my family, it just happened.” 

Pellom, a native of Chatsworth who said he was “a Navy brat” with his dad in the service, said he was a “healthy guy” until everything changed in 1990.

“I began feeling like I had a bad cold,” he said. “I made an appointment with my (primary) doctor to be checked.” 

Pellom said after spending two hours at his doctor’s office he was sent to the hospital.

“I was put in a room, with an IV running through my arm,” he said. “I was afraid and nearly in tears.”

Pellom said a doctor told him, “Your kidneys have failed.”

He was admitted to the hospital and told to call his family. The next morning Pellom was taken to another hospital. 

“By that time I was getting worse,” he said. “I was told later I wasn’t expected to make it through the night. I was that bad.”

Pellom said he spent more than two months in the hospital. 

“I went on dialysis after I got out of the hospital,” he said. “I was going to dialysis for a month, until I got stronger.” 

Pellom said he then did dialysis at home four times a day.

“I had a tube in my stomach so I could do dialysis,” he said.

Shortly after Pellom began dialysis he said he went to be tested for the organ waiting list. He eventually got a call for a transplant.

Joyce Miller, a nurse practitioner at Nephrology & Hypertension Specialists in Dalton, said the average life span of a kidney after a transplant is 10 to 15 years.

“We pray and hope when we transplant patients it’s longer,” she said. “Some patients received transplants 30 years ago.”

Miller said Pellom is a “great example” of a successful patient.

“He’s very compliant with taking his medicine,” she said. “He controls his blood pressure and keeps in touch with us and the transplant center.” 

“My doctor told me, a kidney (transplant) is not a cure, it just helps you get off dialysis,” Pellom said. “After I got my kidney I was up and walking within two days.”

Pellom said he’s “very grateful” for his kidney donor and hopes his story encourages more people to become organ donors.

“When you die you don’t need them (organs) so let someone else have them,” he said. 

Miller said there are about 100,000 people on a waiting list for a kidney transplant that don’t have a living donor.

“It’s very important to consider becoming a donor,” she said “I was even a kidney donor a few years ago.” 

Miller said the average wait is three to six years depending on the patient’s blood type. 

“Kidney donation is definitely needed and generally doesn’t jeopardize one’s health,” she said. “I’ve had patients receive organs from other patients they don’t even know.”

Miller advises people to sign an organ donor card, which they can carry in their purse or wallet. Those interested in becoming a donor and receiving a card can sign up at www.organdonor.gov.

Pellom said he is willing to speak to groups about the importance of organ donation. He can be reached at gpellom@yahoo.com. 

“Why bury those organs when someone like Greg can benefit from them?” Miller said.