February 20, 2000
Just like Romeo & Juliet
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
They found each other while students on Heidelberg College's campus, and fell in love while performing at Gundlach Theater.
Now married, Traci and Jeff Cooper returned to the campus to share some of their many "Heidelberg Moments'' with the audience at the opening of "Romeo and Juliet'' Friday night.
However, the couple has shared another, far more poignant moment, when her left kidney restored his life to normalcy.
The Loudonville natives graduated from Heidelberg &emdash; in 1983 for Jeff and 1984 for Traci. And interestingly, they both appeared together in "Romeo and Juliet'' while in school &emdash; Traci as the nurse, and Jeff as Mercutio.
Avid theater participants while on campus, they recalled that during one of the first plays they did while beginning to date, they were told to work on the "passion'' in the kiss they were to share on stage. "It was the production of 'Out of This World,'' Traci said. "We were told to go into the Green Room and practice kissing.''
They were engaged Christmas eve of his senior year, and when they returned, the theater department was preparing for "Romeo and Juliet.''
"I couldn't be wearing a ring,'' Traci said of her role as the nurse. "So I would take the ring off every night to do the show.''
"One night shortly after the show,'' recalled Jeff. "I was told that I had better go to the Green Room right away; Traci was really upset because she had lost the ring.''
Part of Traci's costume was an apron with large pockets in the front. "My ring had got lodged in the ring I gave Juliet,'' she said, laughing. "Eventually I checked my pockets again. There was nothing on the floor so the only thing left was in the pocket. I picked up the stage ring and saw something glimmer, and there was my engagement ring. At least our story had a happy ending, unlike Romeo and Juliet's.''
Their story does have a happy ending. However, the plot twisted in 1992. "It was my daughter's birthday and I was coming home from the party,'' Jeff said. I went to the bathroom and had nothing but blood come out.''
He was continuing a family legacy of a disease that left his father dead at 55, and most likely killed his grandfather at a young age.
Called polycystic kidney disease, the genetic disorder leaves the victim without kidney function. By 1997, Jeff, at the age of 37, had his kidneys removed and was doing at-home kidney dialysis, yet was constantly weak and ill. Then Traci offered him one of her kidneys. In November of 1998, the couple underwent surgery to share Traci's set of kidneys.
The transplant was successful, and Jeff said that despite all of the medication he takes to keep the kidney from being rejected, he is grateful for the chance at a normal life.
"I started out taking 30 pills in the morning,'' Jeff said. "Now I take 13 or 14 and nine at night; most are antirejection.''
To be a match, one of six antigens needed to match; theirs was a match in blood type. "There do not have to be as many things that need to match any more; what isn't there they have the technology and medication to overcome today,'' Jeff said. "As a matter of fact, there is a good ratio of acceptance in transplants between one spouse and another.''
"It happens more and more,'' he added. "People get tired of waiting. But there is an ethical issue, as to why someone would do this.''
Jeff received Traci's left kidney, and the transplanted kidney began functioning normally immediately upon its connection to the arteries and the transplanted ureter that was placed in Jeff's abdomen.
However, Jeff said that only in the last three months has he felt that "I have really hit my stride.''
Because of his loss of kidney function, he suffered from neuropathy, which cause nerve endings to degenerate over time. He suffered terrible pain and numbness. "I had terrible pain in my feet,'' he said. "I couldn't walk. ''
"The nerve endings can regenerate in time,'' Traci added. "But it had almost disabled him.''
"It went from my feet, to my shins, to my thighs,'' Jeff said. "It was in my arm and even the tip of my nose was numb. I just couldn't feel anything anymore, and I had some muscle atrophy.
"Just something as simple as going down a single step was difficult,'' Jeff explained. "I would fall and later I would see all of the bruises, but I couldn't feel a thing.''
The neuropathy has reversed, which Traci said does not always happen. And her health has been unaffected by her gift to her husband. "There is no difference in my life,'' she said, and laughing added, "My weight is still the same, even though I lost a kidney.''
One thing she will do is be more concerned about getting her annual physical. And Jeff commented, "I sure want to take good care of it (the kidney). And I hope it lasts a good, long time.''
Both said that the prognosis is excellent after they have passed the one year mark following the transplant, which they have now done. And Jeff must be diligent with his medications. "They say one of the biggest hurdles is that people start to feel so good, they don't think they need their medication any longer,'' he said.
Their two children, who are 10 and 7, will be genetically predisposed to the kidney disease. Yet Traci and Jeff are not worried unnecessarily about their futures, using their example as a reason to have hope.
"I did home dialysis, which they couldn't have done 20 years ago,'' Jeff said. "And in 1985, when my father died, there were so many things they didn't know about the disease. Even transplants at that time were relatively new.''
They both cited the discovery of genes and chromosomes responsible for the childhood version of the disease by the Cleveland Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital's Center for Excellence.
"They are bringing more attention to the disease,'' Jeff said. "In the recent past, people were not aware of what it was. With all of the funding and research done in such a short period of time, they have made great strides in the last 10 to 15 years.''