fbpx

After kidney and liver transplant, Michigan man is back out hunting

Older couple standing in front of their house, arm in arm

Rob Rudzki is living proof of the good organ donation can do.

hunter with a large buck he shotMore than seven years after a kidney and liver transplant, Rob is still healthy, back out bow-hunting, and spending quality time with his dog, Lacey.

“Today he looks great! If someone didn’t tell you he had had a transplant, you would never know,” said his wife, Jean.

Rob had been battling liver disease for a few years before the transplant, resulting in several hospital visits – including a stay in the intensive care unit on his and Jean’s 40th wedding anniversary – but things took a turn for the worse in January 2015.

He was beginning to look jaundiced, and Jean said the doctors gave them a grim assessment.

“They said they never saw a liver get that bad that fast, that he’d be dead within a year if ‘we don’t do something,’” she recalled.

Rob was also told that he couldn’t be listed for a transplant until he quit drinking. He did. He went to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, sought counseling, visited a cardiologist – everything he could do to get healthy enough to get on the transplant list. While he was being evaluated, doctors also told him he needed a kidney transplant, too.

Black lab on its hind legs, with front legs being held by an older man in his kitchenHe was on the transplant waiting list for less than a month and got his liver and kidney transplant on April 11, 2015. The date also holds another special significance – Lacey was born on the same month and day, exactly one year after Rob’s transplant.

A former repairman for Sears, where he fixed washers and dryers, Rob still works around the garage and helps others with their projects. He makes homemade sausage and smoked sausage, too, and takes to the woods during bow hunting season. In fact, getting healthy enough to use his 35-pound traditional bow was a goal for Rob in his recovery from the transplant. Now Rob hunts with his 45-50 pound bow!

His is not the only family connection to donation, either. Two of Rob’s cousins are lung transplant recipients. Jean’s brother, Fred, was a cornea, skin and bone donor after his death in 2009.

“Little did we know we could donate eyes, tissue and skin,” Jean said. “We were happy to do it.”

Jean’s sister, a retired teacher, is on the kidney transplant waiting list in Michigan. Jean’s cousin’s husband donated his corneas after his death. Her sister has a donor bone graft in her neck. Jean, their son and their daughters are all registered donors.

Rob and Jean are grateful to their donor family. “As soon as I learned a donor match had been found I went to the hospital chapel and asked God to send an angel to the donor’s family, to be with them in their time of need,” Jean said.

She continues to pray for the anonymous donor family. “I offer up a special prayer every year on the anniversary of Rob’s transplant.”

multi-generational family photo on the grass in front of a lake with a boat at the dock behind them

 

Read More Posts
More than 100 staff at Munson Medical Center gathered to celebrate their upcoming Hospital of the Year Award - many of them came in on their day off to join the celebration.

Munson Medical Center Named Hospital of the Year by Gift of Life Michigan

Munson’s John Stanifer, MD and ICU Manager, Eric Jean also to be recognized. Gift of…

Read More
children holding hands

Can a Living Person Donate a Liver?

The liver is an important organ. It filters toxins out of your blood. You can’t…

Read More

Can You Donate Your Placenta?

The placenta is a one-of-a-kind organ that plays a significant role in pregnancy. It assists…

Read More
A happy family

What Tissue can be Donated?

There are several tissues that one can donate to save lives. This includes cornea, tendons,…

Read More
Dr. Bedi, Rachel Kuntzsch and Sarah Scantamburlo are new Gift of Life Governing Board members

Gift of Life Michigan announces new board members

New board members will bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the table Gift of Life…

Read More
2023 was a record year for Gift of Life Michigan with 578 organ donors and 1,858 tissue donors

Gift of Life Michigan smashes record for organ donors in 2023

More than 213,000 people join Donor Registry Gift of Life Michigan helped a record 578…

Read More
Scroll to Top