Hello, friends. My name is Samuel Wiley. I am a 55-year-old single male and a Navy Gulf War Era veteran from rural York County Pennsylvania. I grew up in the country on a small gentleman’s farm and the youngest of a large multiracial adopted family. My father owned his own food business and was an Army veteran with the 3rd Infantry Presidential Honor Guard stationed at Ft. Myers. My mother was a middle school art teacher. Needless to say, I grew up with lots of chores and discipline.
In April 1988, during my senior year of high school, I joined the Navy. I was always pretty interested in medicine and first aid, so when they asked me what I wanted to do, I signed up to be a Navy Corpsman. My first duty station was Bethesda National Naval Medical Center. I worked and learned on an orthopedic and optometry floor. While at Bethesda I was also attached to the USNS Comfort out of Baltimore.
My next duty station took me to Naval Hospital Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico during the Gulf War. There I worked on a general nursing floor for a year before getting my EMT/Advanced Cardiac Life Support certification. I would spend the next two years as an E.R. corpsman doing everything from first responder (emergency medicine) to sick calls and brig duty. I loved being a corpsman, especially in a first responder role where I really felt I was doing some good.
I left active duty in August 1993 after serving five years and joined the Navy Reserves and served until 1997. I went to college for two years while working full-time at my local hospital. Five doctors I served with at Naval Hospital P.R. were doing their residency at Well Span Health in York PA—what a small world. I left health care in 2000 and went to work in the family business after my father suddenly passed away.
I was mostly healthy, so I rarely went to the doctor. I had quite a few aches and pains from high school football and my Navy days, so I took a lot of Motrin for many years. Around 2013, my blood pressure was out of control, and I was at risk of having a stroke. I spent ten days in the hospital, and that is when I found out I was diabetic, had high blood pressure, and Stage 2 kidney failure.
In 2016, I moved to Ocean City, Maryland; I was ready for a change. The beach is my happy place: hot weather, the cool ocean and making friends with tourists. In 2018, I became the general manager of the American Legion Post 166. While in Ocean City, I battled gout and developed Stage 3 kidney damage. Unfortunately, I cannot take anything for my severe gout pain because of my kidney issues, and I have not been able to work since the spring of 2023 due to my health.
After getting the COVID shot in 2021 and then getting COVID two weeks later, my gout attacks got more frequent and more debilitating over the next few years. By September 2023 I was in Stage 4 chronic kidney disease (CKD) and was listed for a transplant. Memorial Day weekend 2024, I was at about 10% kidney functions and feeling terrible. After getting my port placed and a few dialysis treatments, I was feeling much better. I’ve been on peritoneal dialysis (PD) dialysis since May 2024.
I’ve been doing pretty well. I still get pretty tired, and I pretty much stay nauseous all the time. My biggest chore has been fighting off the darkness of loneliness, isolation, and depression. When you are reliant on dialysis twice a day, you don’t feel that great. It is hard to stay motivated, positive, or want to be sociable. And volunteering for Toys for Tots when I can is a great emotional boost for me.
I’m ready to get transplanted! I need to find a living donor so I can get back to having a normal life. I still have a lot of life in front of me. I’ve been trying to practice more gratitude as I attempt to shake free of this cloud I’ve been under. I want to thank my support persons for always being there for me, I want to thank my local VA, my transplant centers and my dialysis team. I also want to thank American Legion Post 166 for the love, support and generosity of the membership.
For medically cleared donors, giving the gift of life through living kidney donation has been proven to be very safe. DOVE will assist all prospective donors throughout the process and make sure they do not incur any out-of-pocket expenses related to the evaluation or surgery. A healthy person can live a normal life with one kidney and save Sam’s life with the other!
Your support, whether through spreading the word on social media or considering becoming a donor, can make a profound impact on his life and the life of his family!
Please click on the link below if you would like to learn more OR call (551) 233-1611