A Perfect Match

Georges Annan Kingsley with one of his art works displayed at an Asylum Hill art show.

On Saturday, October 20, 2018, Georges Annan Kingsley awoke to a new life. Georges received his long awaited kidney transplant the night before. A perfect match, his new kidney worked immediately. This perfect match was on top of another successful transplant just twenty-three days earlier. On September 27, 2018, the United States welcomed Georges as a new citizen. It's a blessing for Georges and his family. It's a blessing for the greater Hartford community. It's a perfect match.

Georges at his citizenship ceremony on September 27, 2018 in New Haven

Georges' citizen celebration party  hosted by the Asylum Hill Welcoming Committee 

All who know Georges love him, his wife Asse Marthe Ntchohou, and his son, Joe-William.  A well respected resident of Hartford's Asylum Hill Neighborhood, Georges is a community leader. He's an accomplished artist (he has a painting on display in the White House), a teacher, and a radio host, as well as an Asylum Hill community organizer championing the acceptance and well being of refugees and immigrants. Despite being tethered to exhausting dialysis sessions three times a week prior to his transplant, Georges' prolific production of paintings and sculptures ensured his works were always on display at local art shows. Most recently he had a two-week exhibition at Connecticut's Legislative Office Building. Incredibly he found even more strength to organize cultural celebrations, sponsor clothing drives, teach art classes, and promote job skills training for new arrivals in his welcoming Hartford neighborhood.

Georges hosting this Good Times show which airs
Saturdays on Ghana Beats Radio from 12:00-2:00 p.m.

George is a transplant who has taken root in Hartford successfully. His compelling stories about escaping from political persecution in Côte d'Ivoire and his quest for a kidney transplant are well documented. I've covered a bit of them in my blog posts: My Friend Needs a Kidney Transplant, and Listen to the Heartbeat of Africa in Hartford about Ghana Beats Radio, the on-line radio station he and his business partner, John Ackeifi, launched to serve the sub-Sahara African diaspora living in greater Hartford. But those posts only tell a small bit of his story.

To learn more about Georges I've compiled a series of links to stories that present a more complete appreciation of this talented and compassionate man who was a model citizen long before he actually became one. His perseverance and optimism embody Connecticut's motto Qui transtulit sustinet: "He who transplanted sustains."

Links to articles, videos, and a podcast about Georges Annan Kingsley:

Political Refugee Showing Art Work at Passages Gallery

New Voices of Asylum Hill

New England Public Radio Words in Transit (podcast)

My Friend Needs a Kidney Transplant

Listen to the Heartbeat of Africa in Hartford

The National Arts Program

Nine Neighborhood Murals Chosen for Hartford Paint the City

Ivory Coast Artist at Hartford Public Library

Voices of Wisdom: Newcomer Stories

Don Shaw, Jr.

Writer and Editor

RedTruckStonecatcher.com

Photos by Don Shaw, Jr.; the photo of Georges with the judge was submitted by the Georges Annan Kingsley family.

The Path to a Kidney Transplant: Following Georges' Lead

Georges Annan Kingsley with son, Joseph, and wife, Marthe (R), and Bernie Michel (L) 

For people on the list to receive a kidney transplant the path is long and arduous, marked with anxiety and frustration. As one would expect for anyone with a serious chronic illness personal and family stress is high, often debilitating.

In January I wrote about Georges Annan Kingsley's desperate need for a kidney transplant, and his leadership in promoting the need for more people to become Living Donor Champions. My blog today features Bernie Michel's story as he follows Georges' lead to learn more about living donor programs, and the possibility of becoming a kidney donor. Like Georges, Bernie is an Asylum Hill resident. He is a long time community leader active in the Asylum Hill Neighborhood Association (AHNA).  

George Needs A Kidney

by Bernie Michel

For those of you who are regulars at AHNA meetings, or the Welcoming Committee, or who read the RedTruckStonecatcher.com blog, it is no secret that Georges Annan Kingsley, the refugee and artist from Ivory Coast who has been on dialysis for more than five years, needs a kidney transplant. His kidneys stopped functioning several years before he came to Hartford. Last month when he began explaining the process to me, I made a commitment to understand what really is involved in the process. Here's what I've done and what I've learned.

First, I had one very in depth conversation with Asamoah “Azzy” Anane, Living Donor Transplant Coordinator at Hartford Hospital, where Georges goes three days a week for dialysis.  Dialysis is the only reason Georges is still alive. The days when he receives the treatment are split between the hours of dialysis itself and the time spent recovering from the treatment.  As good as the technology is, it’s a poor substitute for a functioning kidney, so Georges’ truly productive life consists mainly of the days between dialysis.

Becoming an organ donor is an opportunity available to most of us just by checking a box on our driver’s license or signing up online. It's easy and certainly painless to do since you don’t part with any organs until you’re done using them. However, when it comes to kidneys there’s another option,  the opportunity to become a living donor, which is what I'm looking into for myself. Nearly everyone has two and can usually survive just fine on one. Giving a living part of oneself to someone else is a special kind of giving. It’s more than writing a check or even volunteering weekly or monthly. 

Of the more than 120,000 people in America waiting for an organ transplant, more than 80% need a kidney. From the medical point of view, a living donor is preferred by far. It may take several months to be sure that the kidney donor and the recipient are the best possible match, but it greatly improves the chances of everything going as planned for both the donor and the recipient. 

The financial burden of being a donor is covered either by the recipients insurance or the National Kidney Foundation, including all the testing needed to be sure the donor is healthy enough to safely provide a viable organ to the recipient. To be sure the process does take significant time. However, on the plus side you get a physical like no other at no cost. Blood tests for everything under the sun as well as all your other vital organs as well. Then, if everything is a go and you actually do donate a kidney (only about 10% of those who volunteer are accepted), then you can expect 4-8 weeks to recover. 

Going from two kidney’s to one is a bit of a shock to the system. For one thing, it requires volunteering to experience some temporary pain and discomfort. Medical science gets better every year, but they still haven’t eliminated pain and discomfort. Yet despite the short term personal physical distress, the whole process is absolutely worthwhile because the recipient goes from none to one and is usually feeling much better in a day or two, mostly because he or she hasn’t felt well in a while. 

At the end of my conversation with Azzy I asked what the next step would be. He said I need to begin with an application, which he emailed to me. Statistically I have about a 1 in 10 chance of being able to donate, and if I’m successful I’ll be at the upper age range of donors. Even if I’m not compatible with Georges, being willing to donate for him improves his chance of receiving a kidney by a lot. I’ll talk more about that next month in Asylum Hill News & Views. In the mean time, if you can’t wait until next month’s installment, you can reach out to Azzy at asamoah.anane@hhchealth.org.

Bernie Michel's article first appeared in AHNA's "Asylum Hill News & Views" March 2017 newsletter. It has been edited  for this blog. Photo provided by Bernie Michel  

Don Shaw, Jr.
Writer and Editor
RedTruckStonecatcher.com

My Friend Needs a Kidney Transplant

Georges Annan-Kingsley with one of his art works displayed at an Asylum Hill art show

Georges Annan-Kingsley is my friend. As a long persecuted political refugee from Côte d'Ivoire, Georges suffered chronic, stress-induced hypertension causing his kidneys to fail. After a long, courageous bureaucratic struggle to escape western Africa via Ghana, aided by the French consulate, Georges received medical refugee status in the United States. He arrived in near fatal condition. He was saved by immediate access to medical attention. 

His life is interrupted three times a week with grueling dialysis sessions necessary to keep him alive. With his disability he's barely able to muster the strength to help raise his family. Because his abilities are diminished he is limited in following career pursuits and engaging in community life. He's an accomplished artist (he has a painting on display at the White House), teacher, radio host, and Asylum Hill community leader championing the acculturation of arriving refugees and immigrants into this thriving Hartford, CT neighborhood. But for long-term survival Georges needs a kidney transplant. Despite his struggles, he keeps a positive, constantly smiling attitude. George has hope.

Georges Annan-Kingsley hosting his show on GhanaBeats Radio

Georges' way of life is the norm for all in need of a kidney transplant. Like many of our friends, family, colleagues, and the millions of people we will never know, kidney disease has a fierce grip on their lives. Its causes are many, ranging from genetic predisposition, diabetes, hypertension, and insulin resistance to lifestyle causes such as physical inactivity, poor diets, and obesity.

So what can we do about it?

We can follow Georges' lead. Georges is championing another cause, the urgent need for the healthy people among us to become Living Donor Champions.

"A Living Donor Champion is someone who helps spread the story of a loved one in need of a living kidney donor. The Champion helps share their story and raise awareness about kidney disease, transplantation, and living kidney donation. The goal is to find a potential living donor for their loved one." 

Please read the brochure below and consider making a life changing difference by becoming a Living Donor Champion. 

If you would like to talk with Georges directly, which he is willing to do, please reply to my blog with your contact information. I will forward it to him.

Thank you.

The Living Donor Champion Program

Photos by Don Shaw, Jr.
"Champions Needed" flyer provided by Georges Annan-Kingsley

Don Shaw, Jr.
Writer and Editor
RedTruckStonecatcher.com