Covington tornado survivor needs kidney donation
COVINGTON, Tenn. — A Covington, Tennessee, man who survived a deadly tornado earlier this year is now in desperate need of a living kidney donor.
Joshua Williams is taking life one day at time while facing a major health crisis and playing a waiting game. He has been diagnosed with stage five chronic kidney disease.
“I was in stage four kidney failure, and now it’s stage five, right now at the moment,” he said. “It takes a while, we know that. But I don’t want to run out of time here.”
He has been on the kidney transplant list through Methodist University Hospital for about three years.
“They said what I need is a living donor because a living donor at my age, I can get twenty-five years out of that kidney,” he said.
He’s just getting over a near death experience after a tornado ripped through Covington earlier this year, sending a dumpster crashing through his bedroom wall and shattering every window in his apartment.
RELATED: City of Covington impassable due to tornado damage
“It hit so fast. It was like a freight train coming through the house,” Williams said.
Looking back, the tornado, he says, was nothing compared to the emotional and physical challenge of stage five chronic kidney disease.
Williams says he’s thankful for his support team, including his mom, his sister and, of course, his dog Champ.
“We’re just going through the holidays the best we can, and we’re just hoping for a Christmas miracle,” said his mother, Valinda Spencer.
It’s a miracle that can’t come soon enough.
“It’s very hard. We cry a lot. We cry with Josh. We cry in a room by ourselves. We pray a whole lot,” Spencer said.
The next step for Williams while he waits for news is kidney dialysis.
If you’re interested in finding out if you qualify as a kidney living donor, contact Melissa Moore with Methodist University Hospital at 901-478-2879 or melissa.moore@mlh.org. You can also go to the Methodist University Hospital website.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
