Georgia man loses over 180 pounds to qualify for kidney transplant

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga. - "I'm at end-stage kidney disease," Blair says. "So, without this working, to cleanse for my kidneys, I could die."

According to the American Kidney Fund, kidney disease is the 9th leading cause of death in America.

For the next three and a half hours, the machine filters the toxins from his blood. And not once does Blair complain about his new reality.

It's still dark outside as Brendon Blair begins his day at the DaVita Dialysis Center in Peachtree City, Georgia. His "chair time" at 5:45 am.

"I get here about 5:40 in the morning, just to kind of sit and wait," the 38-year old Verizon assistant manager says.

Three times a week for the last 5 years, it's been the same routine.

A dialysis nurse checks his blood pressure, then his temperature, then his lungs.

Once he has the all-clear, she places two needles in his left arm, connecting him to the machine that will do the work his kidney cannot.

"I try not to look at it negatively; I try to look at the positive," Blair says.  "Because God has been too good, too good to me, to complain."

He kills time coloring in an adult coloring book, goes on Facebook, or reads his daily Bible verse on an app on his cellphone. This was not the life Brendon expected, when he and Jonee' married back in 2009, only to learn, just two years later, Brendon's kidneys were failing, and he'd soon need dialysis.

"We were heartbroken," Jonee' remembers.

Because this meant no more traveling together on mission trips to Wales with their church, New Hope Baptist. That's where Brendon had proposed to Jonee'.

Everything in their life has to center around his dialysis treatments, which leave Brendon fatigued for the rest of the day.

"He's stayed positive, where a lot of people go to dialysis and they hate it." Jonee' Blair says. "They're like, 'I've got to spend 4 hours of my day doing this or doing that.'  He goes, 'You know, I'm so thankful for dialysis because otherwise, I would be dead.'"

Early on, Brendon Blair tried to qualify for a kidney transplant, but was told he was too heavy.

"At my peak, I was 412 pounds," he says.

So he radically changed his diet, joined a gym, and dropped 90 pounds.

In April of 2017, he underwent gastric sleeve surgery, and then lost 98 more pounds.

"Currently, I am 229 pounds," Blair says.

On September 14, 2017, the Blairs were notified Brendon had been placed on a waiting list for a donor's kidney.

"We might have cried again, with tears of joy, though," he says.

Now, the Blairs need to find a kidney donor. He posted his story on Facebook, and it's been shared more than 1,000 times.

"We know that the kidney is out there,' Jonee' says.  "We know that the person is out there."

Finding a living donor, especially a stranger willing to give a kidney with no strings attached, is a long shot.  But Brendon Blair, looking around his dialysis center, Brendon Blair feels certain this won't be his life forever.

"It's my faith, my faith in God, my trust in God," Blair says.  "I know it's going to work out. I know it's going to work out."

To read more about Brendon Blair's search for a kidney donor, visit https://www.facebook.com/brendon.blair.