Kidney links Owasso woman with recognized band parent

OWASSO, Okla. (AP) — Derek Greer, a structural engineer, is a whiz at building things.

He also is good at reconstructing lives.

His kidney donation was part of a human chain that resulted in two people receiving transplants in the summer of 2014, including Yennifer Parris of Owasso.

The Tulsa World (http://bit.ly/225rMuW ) reports that for his humanitarian efforts and commitment to the Owasso High School band, which he has supported since 2006, Greer received the Patrick John Hughes Parent/Booster Award at the Grand National Championships last month in Indianapolis.

"He has been the mastermind behind a lot of our props over the last five or six years," said Chris Harris, director of the Owasso High School Band. "I'll give him a little bit of an idea of what we're looking for, and in a day or two I'm looking at 3D drawings that I can spin around on my computer. It's remarkable."

A former drum major for the Pride of Owasso Marching Band, Parris graduated from the school in 2007.

"He just kind of felt called to do it," Harris said. "He hung around her enough when she was feeling bad and kind of got a connection, and instantly wanted to go in and help. He was disappointed that he wasn't a match, but he kind of found out how you could make it happen anyway."

Greer discovered Parris' need for a transplant through a Facebook post generously shared by the local band community in September 2011.

"She wrote about herself, and it was very well-written," said Greer, whose daughter, Noelle, a sophomore, is the last of three children he and his wife, April, have put through the band program. "It just touched my heart. I knew that I needed to do something.

"You can pray, and praying is good. But somebody has to take action eventually. I didn't know if anybody else would."

Managed through United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), paired kidney donation is an option for medically able donors who are unable to give to their intended participant, said Katie Peoples, a licensed clinical social worker at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa. About 160 health centers nationwide participate in the exchange program, which reports increased kidney survival compared to deceased kidney donation, Peoples said.

Greer and Parris underwent surgery July 24, 2014, at Saint Francis, and were linked with a recipient and donor who went under the knife at Baylor Medical Center in Dallas. The harvested organs were carefully preserved, packaged and driven to their awaiting operating tables about four hours away.

"It's designed for folks like Derek and Yennifer who are not compatible," Peoples said. "He initially wanted to give a kidney to her. She would have rejected his kidney.

"That happens all over the country. They've developed this program to help those recipients to find kidneys quicker that match them."

When Parris caught wind of Greer wanting to help with her transplant, she "creeped on his Facebook" and canvassed friends and family for assurances about his character, she said. Although he was a band booster and bus trip chaperone when Parris (formerly Gutierrez) was a senior, she didn't remember him because she had become seriously ill with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease.

"It's not every day that somebody that you don't know is like, 'Let me see if this will work,' " Parris said.

Her anxiety, however, dissipated when they happened to meet at the same time for bloodwork at Saint Francis.

"We clicked during those two hours," she said. "I just remember, 'OK, I feel comfortable. It's not a weird feeling.' Once that happened, it was all green lights from my part."

Added Greer, "That was the first time we had actually talked . After talking with her, I knew I had to follow through with this to the end. If she was my daughter, I would want somebody to do it for me."

Grueling emotionally and physically, the pairing process lasted years. Parris lost weight and loads of sleep, fearing she would miss that all-important phone call.

"They give you 15 minutes to call back, and if you don't call back within that 15 minutes, they go to that next person in line, who's also waiting," she said. "I would have nightmares about missing that call. I would wake up in the middle of the night and check my phone."

Family members were checked for a match, as well as Caleb Parris, Yennifer's future husband. Greer even convinced his brother to undergo compatibility testing.

None worked out.

"It's really hard, when you've been beaten down so many times, to try to get back up," Yennifer said. "I just had a great support system."

Particularly from Greer, who could empathize with her medical odyssey.

"There will never be a way that I can just thank them," said Parris, who married Caleb after the transplant and is taking online courses at Tulsa Community College. "The only way I've been able to show how much I appreciate that gift is doing the things that I wasn't able to do. Now I really want to live life to the fullest, because I don't want that gift to go to waste."

April Greer said she wasn't surprised by her husband's selflessness.

"His heart was totally in it," April Greer said. "It's just the way he is. He didn't even think twice. He was like, 'Why couldn't I do that?'"

Fortunately for Parris, he no longer has to wonder.

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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com

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