BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Imagine that child who wants a pony for Christmas and gets just that from Santa.
Now, you’ve got an idea of what Julee Tinsler felt like in late 2023. Instead of a pony, though, she was hoping for a kidney.
“I had been saying all along, ‘I hope I get my Christmas wish,’” said Tinsler, a Starke resident, had been put on the transplant list at Tampa General Hospital in May 2023. “I did indeed get my Christmas wish.”
Her Christmas wish come true turned out to be quite a surprise, though, with the donor being Camilla Evans, a friend from high school.
It was like Santa brought not only a pony, but a pony with wings.
“I was just completely blown away,” Tinsler said, adding, “The last time we saw each other was literally in high school.”
In other words, more than 40 years ago.
“I’m a couple of years older, so I graduated and moved away,” said Evans, who now lives back in Starke. “I lost touch, but I missed Julee.”
Evans became aware of her long-ago friend’s plight when she read a June 8, 2023, Telegraph-Times-Monitor story. Her reaction was, “OK, I’ll get tested.”
It was the desire to help a friend, but it was also paying it forward. Evans’ husband, John, received a kidney transplant in 2005.
“A transplant wasn’t really outrageous for me,” Evans said, adding, “The thought of it wasn’t really scary because I’ve been with (John).”
A Dec. 22 call from Evans, after testing, informed Tinsler that she had been approved for the surgery. All that had to be done was to select a date.
Why wait any longer than she already had been? Tinsler said, “Let’s go ahead and get the first (date).”
The surgery was performed on Feb. 6. Evans and Tinsler approached that date having faith that all would go well.
“I wasn’t worried because I think God put us in this position,” Evans said. “I was like, ‘God’s in charge.’ He put a lot of things in place to get us to that position.”
Tinsler, thinking of the fact that her donor was a long-ago friend, said, “It’s very much a God thing.”
Evans was discharged from the hospital two days after the surgery. Tinsler left five days later, though she and Evans had to remain near the hospital — Evans for two weeks and Tinsler for three months. Tinsler and her husband rented an Airbnb property, which Evans and her husband shared for the time they were there.
“We just kind of lived together,” Tinsler said.
It wasn’t just Evans, Tinsler and their husbands living together. Karl and Kyle were also present. Those are the names Evans gave to her kidneys.
“I had to have ‘K’ names,” Evans said, alluding to the fact that “kidney” begins with “K.”
Evans kept Karl. Tinsler received Kyle.
“Kyle is doing well,” Tinsler said. “All the bloodwork is by and large doing well.”
Tinsler said her time since the surgery has consisted of “lots of doctors’ appointments and lots of labs.” She’s back home in Starke, but said she still travels to Tampa about once a month for follow-up care and evaluation.
Though her new kidney is functioning as it’s supposed to, Tinsler is experiencing some side effects due to the medication she’s taken. She had neuropathy prior to surgery that affected one of her feet. Its effects have now spread up to her knee. Medication has prevented the shooting pain that came with it, but now both of her feet are numb.
“It’s caused some balance and gait issues,” said Tinsler, who participates in therapy at Lake Area Physical Therapy.
She had mild tremors in one of her hands prior to surgery. The tremors have gotten worse and now affect both hands.
“Evidently, there is some type of medicine that can possibly help the tremors,” Tinsler said. “The neurologist said he would put me on it, but until it gets to the point where I just can’t tolerate it anymore, I do not want to take any more medicine. We’re just living with it.”
John Evans, who went through what Tinsler is going through now, said it takes time for doctors to find the medication regimen that works the best.
“It’s basically just a big balancing act,” he said.
Tinsler currently takes three anti-rejection medicines, with the dosage of two having already decreased over time.
She’s most thankful that she no longer has to take one medicine, which came in the form of a yellow liquid, though “liquid” might be a generous term.
“It was so thick and viscous it was sticking to the cup,” John Tinsler said. “I don’t know what it was doing to her innards.”
Julee Tinsler said, “I’m incredibly happy to off that nasty stuff. It was thick. It had a bad taste. It was just icky all the way around.”
After listening to the conversation around this medicine, John Evans remarked that he was glad it was something he never had to take.
The only restrictions Tinsler has placed on her is that she can’t take medication with any drinks that contain juice from grapefruits or pomegranates.
She also can’t drink herbal teas and must avoid taking vitamins and supplements.
“Evidently, the vitamins are secreted through your kidneys,” Tinsler said. “They don’t want to upset Kyle.”
The post-surgery life has been a little frustrating for Tinsler, but as doctors and nurses have reminded her, she just had a major, life-changing procedure. She said one nurse told her, “I know you thought you were going to be able to get up and run a marathon, but that’s not the way it works. It takes a while for your body to get stabilized.”
Recovering from a transplant has her thankful for one of modern life’s conveniences.
“The greatest thing through this whole thing has been Walmart delivery, although I do miss walking around and looking at stuff,” Tinsler said.
She’s also thankful for the support of her community, saying she was “overwhelmed” by the number of cards and gifts she’s received.
“You don’t realize how much people in this community care until something like this happens,” Tinsler said. “We bind together.”
John Tinsler’s ESE students at Bradford High School were responsible for a lot of cards that John, Julee and Camilla Evans received.
“That was so heartwarming,” said Evans, who in turn presented the students with goody bags and monogrammed water bottles as her way of saying thank you.
By receiving a kidney from a living donor as opposed to receiving one from a cadaver, Tinsler avoided a potentially longer wait (receiving a cadaver kidney can take up to five years) and could have five to 10 more years of use out of her donor organ. A living-donor kidney also tends to have less chance of being rejected by the recipient’s body.
All in all, it made for a very good Christmas 2023.
