Sam Peters knows what it means to put in an honest day's work.

For years, he worked as the chief financial officer for a chain of Coca-Cola® plants, serving on the company's national board of directors. In 1971, he began his own consulting practice and evaluated Coca-Cola® plants across the United States, Europe and Africa. He retired in 1991 at the age of 72, but refused to slow down.

After retirement, he began focusing his energy on charitable foundations in his hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. He has helped to raise 50 million dollars in his community, including the Shreveport Symphony, Centenary College (Sam's alma mater) and millions of dollars for the only residential hospice in Louisiana. He prided himself on staying busy, attending board meetings, meeting people in the community and raising money for worthy causes. But a couple of years ago, Sam began to experience severe itching and swelling in his legs.

"My legs had swollen up like a pro football player. I didn't have the strength to get out of a chair and walk," Sam said. Doctors told him that his kidneys were failing and that it was due to hypertension, which he had battled for 40 years. His father, mother and brother all suffered strokes due to hypertension. He says he now realizes what hypertension can do to the kidneys.

Sam began dialysis treatments in February of 1999. But the treatments drained him and he found he did not have the energy to keep himself going every day.

"I was on dialysis for a year and it got to the point where I just couldn't do it. I was 81 at that time and I couldn't recover," Sam recalls. "They (his doctors) told me that I would have lived for about a year on dialysis."

Sam started to wonder about the option of transplantation. He figured his age might be a barrier to the operation, but wanted to talk to his doctors and find out if it could be done.

"One of my doctors said that I was pushing the outer limits (for a transplant). They want to give the kidneys to younger people with longer life expectancies and I understand that," Sam said.

He decided to travel to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where doctors learned he was in great shape. They told him that he could tolerate the operation if he found a suitable donor. "So many things could have been an obstacle but doctors found him to be in great shape and he had no other medical problems," said Sam's wife, Ann.

About this time, Ann began to wonder if she was capable of being a donor. "It was like a divine revelation," Ann said.

Doctors put Ann through a series of tests and determined she was physically able to be a donor. The operation took place on May 18, 2000 at the Mayo Clinic. Sam Peters is the oldest kidney recipient ever at the Mayo Clinic, where thousands of kidney transplants have been performed since 1963. Both husband and wife handled the six-hour operation smoothly.

The operation not only improved the quality of Sam's life, but opened his eyes to the organ shortage in this country. Sam overcame many obstacles to receive his new kidney, but says the biggest problem now is the lack of kidneys. He has pledged to raise awareness of transplantation and the need for organ donors by talking to his family, friends, professional contacts and anyone else who will listen about organ donation.

But for now, Sam is back to an active lifestyle. He is walking regularly, visiting friends and staying busy in the community. The new kidney has worked perfectly and his weight is down about 30 pounds.

"I'm feeling fine and the kidney is working up a storm," Sam said. He wouldn't have it any other way.

This article originally appeared in aakpRENALIFE, Vol. 16, No. 4, January 2001.

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