Mal needs a kidney: Food truck owner seeks donor
Jun. 16—PELHAM — Malcolm Price operates his namesake food truck each weekend with a smile. Just out of sight is the lifeline beneath his T-shirt, a constant reminder of hardship.
Each night, the 54-year-old returns home to a dialysis machine, which connects to a surgically implanted port in his stomach.
The beeping and humming device filters his blood for eight straight hours, doing the work his kidneys can barely accomplish on their own anymore.
In a word, he describes it as uncomfortable. But for now, it's what keeps him and his business, Mal's Grill, alive.
Price is in end-stage kidney failure and in dire need of an organ donation compatible with his O-negative blood type.
For months, his kidneys have only worked at 7% capacity.
He is well known in the Hudson community where he lives — and was the first African American elected to municipal office — as well as elsewhere in the region where he parks his food truck.
He has taken to social media in search of help. An honest post acknowledges, "Time is not on our side."
The federal Department of Health and Human Services reports common wait times of four to five years for a kidney donation from a deceased donor.
"I'm told by doctors that (my blood type) is the hardest, least likely to find a match," he said. "My wait time has now increased to 10-plus years."
Asking for a vital organ from friends, family and strangers is difficult, Price said, but spreading his story is the best chance of survival.
Many in the area have interacted with Price during his years leading the Hudson School Board and Budget Committee, or at the insurance job he now works on weekdays.
He was a car salesman in Lawrence for 17 years, but ditched it to pursue his food truck dreams several years ago — just before his health issues.
"I had to give up public office when I started not feeling well. At first I was wondering why I was so tired, but then I got my answers," he said.
It was kidney disease caused by high blood pressure, doctors said.
"About eight months ago I got a blood test, and on the way home they called and said to come back and do another," Price said. "My kidney function went down to 7% and they couldn't tell why at first. It was because of the hypertension; it went out of control. The damage to my kidneys was already done."
Darcey Price, Malcolm's wife, is determined to get the word out to as many people as possible, she wrote online.
"It costs nothing to simply share this post," she said.
The couple is well aware of the hesitation potential donors may feel having to undergo surgery and leaving the hospital without part of a vital organ.
"You only need one kidney to live a healthy, long life. Most donor surgery is done laparoscopically, meaning through tiny incisions," Price said. "The recuperation period is generally two weeks."
According to Price, the cost of evaluation and surgery will be covered by his insurance.
Anyone interested in the possibility of helping is asked to contact Price's transplant center, Lahey Clinic, at 781-744-2500 or visit lahey-livingdonor.org.
He asks that even folks uninterested in donating a kidney to him consider organ donation in general.
