Soldier, Marine in accord over donation of a kidney

BUHL, Idaho – You never call a Marine a soldier and you never call a soldier a Marine.

And never confuse a Marine’s “oohrah” with a soldier’s “hooah.”

In fact, one of the few things a Marine and a soldier will agree on is how much fun it is to make jokes about the Air Force.

But when it comes down to the wire, they come through for each other. So when Marine Lance Cpl. Mitchell Pehrson needed a kidney, Army Spc. Adam Douglas gave him one.

Douglas does happen to be married to Pehrson’s sister, Andrea.

“It wasn’t about being in the military,” Douglas said. “He was my brother-in-law and he needed a kidney.”

Pehrson, 22, was stationed on a Marine base in Japan last spring when he injured himself trying to earn his gray belt in martial arts. The injury sent him to the doctor who became concerned over his high blood pressure.

Pehrson admitted he hadn’t been feeling too good.

“I was always tired and had trouble on PT runs,” he said.

Tests revealed Pehrson had anemia and his body was starved for oxygen. “It was killing my kidneys slowly,” he said.

He was flown from Japan to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where more tests confirmed Pehrson had end-stage renal disease. He needed a kidney – fast. He stayed in the barracks while the Marines worked on getting him on a list for a donor.

That’s when Douglas, who was stationed in Korea with the Army’s 304th Signal Battalion, stepped in.

“I talked to my wife and heard about the donor list,” Douglas said. “The family all had high blood pressure, so they couldn’t be a donor. I said I would, but our blood types were different.”

But as it turned out, Douglas, who has O-positive blood, could donate to a person of any blood type.

“I said I’d do it and went to the hospital in Korea,” Douglas said.

Douglas had test after test between June and November.

“It came out I was a perfect match,” Douglas said. “I got on a plane in November.”

Two weeks before the scheduled transplant, Douglas was admitted into Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he underwent more blood work, EKGs, ultrasounds and a psychiatric evaluation. Everything was a go for a kidney transplant.

On Dec. 1, Douglas was wheeled into surgery. Pehrson was wheeled into surgery two hours later. Nervous family members kept vigil in the waiting room. More than six hours later, they came back out.

“It was hard to see him in the ICU hooked up to all those lines,” said Pehrson’s mother, Tammy. “It was hard to see him in pain.”

The Marine now had the soldier’s left kidney and a renewed chance at life.

Douglas did pretty well except his diaphragm got irritated during surgery which gave him a case of the hiccups. Douglas pointed out that one does not want hiccups while healing from an incision.

Pehrson had to go back into surgery to repair a leak in his new kidney’s ureter tube. But both came out with a clean bill of health and are now recovering at the Pehrsons’ spacious country home in Buhl, where the soldier and the Marine debate about who got stabbed with more needles during the ordeal.

“I feel like a brand new champ,” Pehrson said. “Before, I felt like a 60-year-old man. A walk to the mailbox would kill me.”

Douglas is happy for Pehrson, though he still enjoys ribbing him.

“They (the Pehrson family) say both of us are full of useless knowledge,” Douglas said. “Now he’s even more full of useless knowledge.”

Douglas, now 26, first knew Pehrson as the annoying little brother of his best friend, Casey. After graduating from Buhl High School in 1997, Douglas pondered what he wanted to do with his life.

“There’s not a lot here for a young kid,” he said.

So a year later, on April Fool’s Day, he joined the Army. He later married Andrea and had two children – Hailey, 5, and Tate, 2. In February 2003, he shipped off to Iraq where he served an eight-month tour. He’s been stationed in Korea for the past eight months, and on Monday will head back there for another month. Then he’ll come home on leave before heading to his next post at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Pehrson graduated from Buhl High School in 2002 and then took some classes at the College of Southern Idaho. But like Douglas, he just wasn’t sure what he wanted to do with his future.

Pehrson recently received an honorable medical discharge and after resting up a little bit more, plans to return to CSI.

Douglas has another year left during which he’ll decide whether he wants to re-enlist.

But with only one kidney, his future in the Army is limited.

“I can’t go overseas and I can’t do heavy work anymore,” he said.

Douglas thought about it for a moment. Then he smiled. “I could go in the Air Force,” he said with a chuckle. “They don’t do a lot.”