Dave Weitzel Needs Our Help

Our good friend and associate Dave Weitzel has shared his kindness, experience and gentle smile with so many who have been fortunate enough to have crossed his path over the past 40 years.  Dave worked at Muirfield Village and Tartan Field’s golf clubs as well as the HNS Sports Group.  He also organized hospitality for many business guests during The Master's Tournament. 

 

Few people know that in 2013 he had a traumatic back injury that required surgery and consequently resulted in his disability.  He is still wrestling with some of these issues today, but the bigger story and his current journey began in 2019.

 

 

Dave Shares His Story - My Goliath

 

“I had always had high blood pressure and had always tried to control it, but in the spring of 2019 it finally came front-and-center to my doorstep.  I had not been feeling well and I started going to a nephrologist (a kidney doctor).  After several unfavorable results in my blood tests, he deemed it was time for me to have a kidney biopsy.  The day of the biopsy I was nervous but OK, we moved forward with the procedure.  Midway through the biopsy, the surgeon said we had a little problem.  The little problem came in the form of a four inch hematoma (a bleed) that had formed around my kidney which occurred when they took a sample.  Although not uncommon this is not how either of us wanted our day to go.  The next 48 hours were some of the toughest of my life (or so I thought at the time) …I was wrong.  The diagnosis came back, it was stage five or ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease).

There is no stage six.

 

A few months later, I was feeling bad and decided to go to the ER.  To my surprise I was told "we are going to put your kidney disease on the back burner, you have a heart issue".  Without going into a lot of detail, I spent the next 15 days in the hospital.  I walked out with a shiny new stint in the right artery of my heart but also a completely blocked artery on the the left side.  They couldn’t fix the left artery because the dye they would have to use would have destroyed the rest of my kidney.  So in other words “we can fix your heart, but we will need to kill your kidney to do it.”  Not much  of a choice.

 

Early in 2020, I knew there were only two options:
Option 1:  Dialysis (a way to extend your life through mechanical cleansing to remove toxins and extra fluid that build up in your system).      This can be done for an undetermined period of time, but usually with a 3-8 year life expectancy.

Option 2:  A kidney transplant.

 

I chose the transplant and the next chapter began.

 

I started with Ohio State University Hospital, after an extreme amount of medical, psychological and financial testing, the decision came back that I was being denied because they felt I needed to lose 25 more pounds (I had just lost 40 from the illness) and I also needed to get my blood pressure down, STRIKE ONE.  I was then referred to Cleveland Clinic, where I underwent the same tests over the course of the following year.  The decision came back I had been denied again, but this time it was because they felt my heart had too many issues, STRIKE TWO.

 

In June of 2020, I had to go on dialysis, which I was hoping to not have to do.  I chose the home method where I am hooked to a machine with a twelve foot long tube for ten hours a day cleaning my blood.  As the year progressed, I was able to lose the extra 25 pounds and get my blood pressure down.

 

Later that year I returned to OSU where I had to undergo all the tests again because so much time had elapsed.  I met with the transplant doctor and he gave me the thumbs up as far as his part, but he wanted me to meet with their cardiac doctor as a formality.  The cardiac doctor told me that he had sent his findings to the transplant committee and that he saw no reason from a cardiac stand point for me not to have a kidney transplant.  I had done all the work, taken all the tests, talked to all the specialists and the decision was in, denied again.  STRIKE THREE, game over, or so I thought.

 

The thing that they don't tell you about this disease is how insidious it is.  It doesn't take everything from you all at once, but just a little bit of you every day, medically, psychologically, and financially.  It controls every chemical in your body keeping the bad and getting rid of the good until you are left with nothing.  I am in the fight of my life and I am losing.  But I'm not done fighting.

 

My plan is to have heart surgery in order to correct the issue they had found so I can get on the kidney transplant list.

 

I have to stay strong through all of this when sometimes I just want to curl up in the corner and wait for the ride to end, but my strength is nothing compared to the woman in my life, her name is Susie.  True strength is watching the man you love deteriorate into an almost unrecognizable version of the guy you met some 25 years ago, knowing there is nothing you can do to change the outcome, but still choosing to stay.  I don't deserve her, but I thank God every day that she is here.  I'm still fighting, but the walls are closing in by evidence that I am writing this.  Those who know me know that I have always been somewhat close to the vest on my personal life and have always tried to do things myself, but sometimes you just need help.

 

I started writing this back in March 2021, when I was at the lowest point in my life...after getting the third rejection letter.  I went into a deep depression of doubt, self-pity and anger thinking that a long and healthy future didn’t seem to be in the cards for me.  I wanted to document this in the hope that someday I would get through this devastating disease and use my experiences to help others going through what I am going through now.

 

As of today, I have come out of the darkness through a combination of my faith (a new chapter for me), a small amount of therapy and my persistence to beat this disease.  I met with OSU transplant team again in late October 2021 and they have agreed to place me on their transplant list, if, I have the previously mentioned heart issue resolved by surgery first.  I know there are a lot of hurdles left and the risk is high on both the heart and the transplant procedures, but it’s a risk I need to take for a second chance at life.

 

My family and friends have been there the whole time supporting me and helping me with the bills, after I drained all of my own resources that had taken a lifetime to accumulate.  They have taken me to appointments when I was too sick to get there on my own and have been there to listen whenever I wanted to talk.  That will be a debt that I will never be able repay."

 

 

This Is Where You Can Help

 

Keep in mind, Dave is trying to keep the bills past and present paid, keep his home and family up and running at the same time, and he is quickly losing that battle as well.

 

Dave has mentioned the medical, psychological, and financial aspects of this situation.  In order to qualify for transplant, you have to be in an acceptable medical condition, and be mentally strong enough to endure the procedure.  Finally, you need to be deemed able to pay for the myriad of anti-rejection drugs that you will need to be on for the rest of your life after the transplant.  Some of these drugs can run in the thousands per month.  Medicare has been a great help and he couldn’t have gotten this far without it, but they don't cover everything.

 

Dave has come to the point in his life where he realizes that this is a battle he can’t win alone.  Your help could literally be a life-saver!

 

Your donations will be used for upcoming heart and transplant procedures, help with some past bills and the day to day expenses until Dave can get back on his feet.

 

If you want more information on this relentless disease, or to find out more about becoming a living organ donor, contact The National Kidney Foundation. The life you save could be Dave’s.