THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994 TAG: 9406100072
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
DATELINE: 940611 LENGTH: Medium
I talked with him by phone from Madison, Wis., this week. His transplant operation at the University of Wisconsin Hospital last month seems to have been successful.
{REST} ``I lost 30 pounds after the operation,'' Ken said. ``But the doctors say I have an excellent chance at a normal life.''
Jones, who was known for his volunteer work with local charities, could not afford the $25,000 necessary for the operation.
He was unable to work at his job because of near blindness caused by the failing kidney and pancreas. Thanks to the donations mailed in by readers - and the fund-raising efforts by Oceanfront Jaycees and Century 21 (Action Plus) - he received the $25,000 he needed.
Doctors had told Ken he might lose all of his sight and live only a few years without the transplants. The operation was a punishing ordeal, he said. But so far his body has not rejected the implanted organs, and the family has its fingers crossed.
He and his mother, Mary, went to Madison in early March, waiting for many weeks for word that a kidney and pancreas donor had been found.
On Tuesday, May 10, a hospital staffer told Ken that a donor had been found and he should report to the hospital that night for pre-surgery preparation.
The surgery was performed the following morning. ``I felt great when I went into the hospital,'' he said. ``But after the operation I felt terrible . . . ''
Ken's mother, Mary, said he lost much of the weight during the first two weeks when he was fed intravenously. She was at her son's side nearly every minute.
Since Ken's release from the hospital last Friday, the two have been sharing a studio apartment while he makes daily trips to the hospital for laboratory tests and medication.
``I'm cooking a lot of the food he likes so he can regain the lost weight,'' she said. ``He's taking between 60 and 70 pills a day.''
Ken asked me to thank everyone for the financial help he has gotten from folks, most of them strangers. ``And people have been real good about phoning to ask how he is,'' his mother said.
I spoke to Ken's father, Lee, after our long distance conversation. He says if all goes well, they might be returning home in July.
\ There's also good news to report from Linda Thoen, the welfare queen even Rush Limbaugh would love.
You may remember Linda, who was the subject of a column back in March.
``I hate being on welfare,'' the divorced mother with a 9-year-old son to support complained.
Her problem was that she wanted to be an EKG technician. But she ran into a Catch 22. To become one she would have to save money so she could enroll in a school. But accepting a job to pay for her tuition would cause her welfare payments to be reduced so drastically, there wouldn't be enough money for rent and food.
She phoned the paper to ask for help from the public. Linda offered any employer who would give the school a tuition check for $525 her promise to work at their business for twice the number of hours required to repay the debt.
Soon after the column appeared, a generous and anonymous donor offered to pay her tuition at Commonwealth Technical Institute as a gift.
Linda will receive her graduation certificate from Commonwealth Technical Instiute next Saturday. She has received financial aid from Tidewater Community College and hopes to enroll there soon.
``I think everything is working out for us,'' she said.
by CNB