Mark is a wonderful sportsman. He loves to hunt, fish and hike. Since moving to Arizona in December 1994 he has not been able to do much of that but if he gets a chance he is out there and fast. He was raised in a small town of about 500 and lived there most of his life. Coming to Phoenix, Arizona (the 5th largest city in the country) was definately culture shock for him and I'm not so sure he has gotten over it.
He has also spent a great deal of time doing wood work, wrapping fishing poles, tying flies (fishing hooks), and working on his 1949 Chevy Pick-Up (still needs ALOT of work).
Mark also enjoys racing. Drags, Nascar, Midgets, Boats, anything that goes fast. We have been able to go to a few races but always look forward to being able to go again.
(This picture is of Mark getting Hillary Will's autograph).
Mark has been employed by a gas pipeline company where he works in the warehouse, stocking, sorting and distributing parts along with a myriad of other tasks. He has been with the company for 12 years.
The past 5 years have been difficult for Mark. He was diagnosed with complete kidney failure on March 29, 2003 and started dialysis on April 9 , 2003. He was told he needed a transplant and so began the long process. He spent the next several months at dialysis or doctor visits making sure his body would accept a transplant. In October 2003 he made it to the transplant list and the wait began.
Fortunately the wait was very short. We were quite surprised when we received a phone call a few weeks later saying they thought they had a perfect match. Little did we know that it was our oldest adopted son. With more tests and lots of prayer, Andrew, was a perfect match and on December 17, 2003 the transplant took place. What a miracle the doctors told us was happening. It is almost unheard of for the timeline to be so short and to have an adopted child be such a perfect match was very rare. Less that 9 months from diagnoses to transplant. Praise the Lord.
Andrew is doing very well, perfectly healthy. I'll share more about him in another post.
Mark's new kidney continues to function great. He has had a difficult year though. One of the side affects from all of the medications he needs to take is a weakened immune system. He is also anemic.
Last July 2007 he was injured and had a wound open up on his leg. Well, here we are in May 2008, 10 months later still making weekly trips to the wound center for treatment. However, we are so close to seeing the wound completely closed and healed that we have even talked about having a party in the next couple of weeks. He has not been able to go in the pool since last July. We cannot wait until we can jump in together!!!
Praise the Lord he has been able to continue to work and his company has been great about adjusting his job to meet his needs.
Mark became a Christian in 1986 and has volunteered many hours serving the Lord in various capacities. He always says 'behind the scenes' is best for him.
If you ever think about Mark, please lift up a prayer for him and his health. One great thing about him is he does not complain about his health and he always does exactly what the doctor orders. He is a great patient as long as he is NOT in the hospital. It is so hard to make him rest!!
Thank you for stopping by and getting to know Mark a little better.
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