MOUNTAIN HOME -- Marcus McCain, known in the Mountain Home community as "Coach McCain," went through a life-altering procedure recently when he received a kidney from a living donor.
The donor, a Twin Lakes Area resident, is a close friend of McCain's. Brent Williams learned in November that he was compatible for the organ transplant, which was completed last month at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.
"It's just exciting," McCain said before the surgery. "It's exciting to know that somebody is obedient to God when he lays something on their heart."
McCain is a physical education teacher at Nelson-Wilks-Herron Elementary. He also is Mountain Home's seventh-grade football coach and a coach for the high school swim team. Williams is a first-year teacher at Cotter schools. The two met through church and have known each other for at least 12 years.
Lately, McCain hasn't been very active because he's been coping with IgA nephropathy, a kidney disease he was diagnosed with in March 2014.
The National Kidney Foundation explains that IgA nephropathy is a common form of glomerulonephritis, a disease that damages the tiny filtering units of the kidney, called glomeruli. The damage caused by IgA nephropathy results from abnormal deposits of a protein called "IgA" in the glomeruli.
The disease affects the kidney's ability to filter toxic waste products from the blood. McCain had surgery in September to cope with the condition, which worsened around Labor Day weekend.
"I really shouldn't have been here," McCain said, talking about the illness earlier this year.
In October, when McCain was able to return to work at the elementary school, he indicated an eventual need for a kidney transplant. At the time, McCain's treatment included daily peritoneal dialysis at home and treatment at the Renal Center of Mountain Home.
He said he started feeling sick again in the fall. For some time, McCain said, he was going through hemodialysis, a more aggressive treatment.
"I knew he had some kidney problems at first for a year or two, but I didn't realize it was that bad," said Williams, 36. "We had learned that he needed a kidney. Me and my wife were both surprised about it. We both talked about it. If he needs a kidney, we're both fairly healthy. We would like to donate, to help out. If you'd like to help somebody, you should."
Williams and his wife looked into whether one of them could be a potential donor, and Williams' tests came back as a match.
He shared the news with McCain through a text. The coach was ecstatic.
"I didn't know that he was the donor at the time when I got the text. I texted him back and asked what he was talking about," McCain explained, noting that Williams asked his thoughts about a kidney transplant set for Dec. 22. "I was like, 'Sweet, let's do it.'"
McCain said the operation lasted around three to four hours.
After his recovery is complete, McCain said, "I plan on going back to work and try to live a normal life as possible, and just take advantage of this second chance, because I've been given a second chance."
Metro on 01/04/2016