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Second transplant, second chance for Pikeville coach

Michael Grant
@MichaelGrant_CJ
UPike Men's head basketball coach Kelly Wells, right, cheers on the team during a drill at team workouts, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014 at the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville.

PIKEVILLE, Ky.

Two years ago at the KFC Yum! Center while facing the University of Louisville basketball team, Kelly Wells suffered through abdominal pain so miserable that he was rushed to Jewish Hosptial after the game.

It was the start of renal failure to his transplanted kidney.

Today, the University of Pikeville coach is significantly healthier and his Bears are getting ready to face the University of Kentucky at Rupp Arena in an exhibition game on Sunday.

Wells has three kidneys in his 43-year-old body. Kidney disease has left him with one of his original kidneys. The other two are transplants, and only one is fully functional. One belonged to his wife. His most recent transplant – the one that's helping keep him alive – belonged to his brother-in-law. And in another serendipitous twist, another brother-in-law owes his early cancer diagnosis to Wells' illness.

Wells has fought kidney disease since being diagnosed while he was a senior basketball player at Morehead State. His medical ordeal has affected his family and has led to him being an advocate for organ and tissue donation.

"It's really hard to describe how grateful you are," said Wells, the father of two young children. "I'm a firm believer that God has his fingerprints on everything. From who we choose to be our spouses to who our brother-in-laws are. He has certainly made a path to make this possible."

The lifespan of a transplanted kidney isn't specific. They don't last forever, but Shawne Wells hoped hers would last her husband 15 to 20 years. It lasted 10.

Shawne and Kelly were college sweethearts and have been married since 1997. In 2004, she gave Kelly the most valuable gift by donating a kidney. Kelly has battled health problems since his diagnosis at Morehead for IgA nephropathy, also known as Berger's disease.

Kelly Wells is back on the sidelines as Pikeville’s basketball coach just months after receiving his second kidney transplant in June. The donor this time was his brother-in-law; the first donor, in 2004, was Wells’ wife, Shawne.

IgA nephropathy interferes with kidney function and sometimes leads to kidney failure.

As a coach, Wells pressed on even when his body was telling him last winter that he was sick. He felt weak. His skin color was pale. His feet were so swollen that putting on shoes was difficult.

"We tried to put it back in remission with drugs," Wells said. "But when I went to see my doctor he said 'you look like hell.' "

The urologist recommended a transplant, and on June 30 he had it done at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

The donor was Brock Walter, the Boyd County school superintendent, and the husband of Wells' older sister, Shelly.

Walter met Shelly at the boys' high school state tournament in Lexington in 2000 when he was sitting near Wells, then the Mason County High coach, and Wells' wife. They soon discovered they had much in common – their first date was a minor-league hockey game – and they were married later that same year. The couple have three sons.

"If you could pick an ideal person to be with your sister, we've certainly got it," Kelly Wells said.

Walter turned out to be ideal in another important way. Before Wells' first kidney transplant, Walter was one of four people tested as potential donors and knew he might be called upon in the future.

UPike Men's head basketball coach Kelly Wells, right, helps his son Mason get on his computer to play a game in his office after school, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014 at the Eastern Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville.

It happened sooner than expected. Family members went through preliminary screenings again last winter, and Walter was ready to volunteer. He spoke with Shawne about her experience as well as Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter (no relation), who donated a kidney to one of his players.

Brock Walter made his decision based on research and faith.

"I'm a Christian," he said. "While I'm his brother-in-law ... I wouldn't have hesitated to do it for someone else."

Another potential donor was Gary Marcum, Shawne's older brother. Marcum, 42, and Wells were similar in many ways. Both are former college basketball players with similar builds and are close in age. His physical and biological characteristics made him a perfect fit.

There was one small problem: Doctors found a small growth in his left kidney.

After testing, Marcum was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, the most common type of kidney cancer in adults.

"When someone tells you you have cancer, you think you should feel like you have cancer," he said. "I still don't. I don't feel any different than before ..they told me. ... I just assumed I was going to be the donor. It was kind of shocking."

Eventually, Marcum will have to have the cancer removed. But the diagnosis may have saved his life.

"The doctors said that typically they don't find this until it's too late," said Marcum, a married father of two young children. "But I felt bad that I couldn't help my brother-in-law."

Marcum's sister and Kelly Wells had a different reaction.

Kelly Wells, left, and his wife, Shawne, talk about the latest chapter in their lives.

"We took it as a blessing that a light was shined on this," Shawne Wells said. "We took it as God's hand — again — in the whole process."

And now basketball season is here. Wells' favorite time of the year.

He won the 2011 NAIA national championship, and his Bears (1-0) have been picked as the No.1 squad by The Sporting News magazine for 2014-15. Wells is also known for guiding Mason County High to the 2003 Kentucky state championship.

Shawne Wells says her husband's energy level is its best in years. His 12-year-old daughter, Kaylee, somewhat jokingly says that her father can now beat her younger brother Mason in a foot race. The basketball players have noticed, too.

"You could tell from his body language and the way he talked that he wasn't feeling well last year," senior guard Hobo McCoy said. "He's 10 times better. He's back to the old coach Wells."

Added senior guard-forward Kenny Manigault: "He's more into the practices. He's more into the workouts. He's just a better person."

Wells, who still has routine checkups roughly every three weeks, feels good now, but eventually he probably will need yet another kidney. The Wells family continues to help bring awareness to the importance of organ and tissue donation.

"You'd be surprised at the number of people who are affected by transplants — not just kidney but heart, pancreas, liver," he said. "We've had a lot of people reach out and say 'we're praying for you.' It's given us strength in numbers."

Contact Michael Grant at (502) 582-4069, and on Twitter @MichaelGrant_CJ.

HELPING OUT

To sign up for the Kentucky Organ Donor Registry, please visit: www.donatelifeky.org (cq)