DENHAM SPRINGS — After waiting on a transplant list for three years and diagnosed with stage 5 End Stage Renal Disease, one man’s family is doing what they can to get the word out to possible donors.
Mark Williams’ journey to a new kidney started 20 years ago when he began experiencing high blood pressure concerns. After his doctors performed lab work, they discovered that his creatinine levels were elevated, which is an indicator of whether the kidneys are working like they should.
“So they saw right then that I was heading in that direction,” Williams said.
He began seeing his nephrologist for regular check-ups to monitor everything. By August 2023, however, Williams said he began preparing to undergo dialysis, specifically peritoneal dialysis, which is done at home, and was placed on a transplant wait list.
Williams began going through peritoneal dialysis in 2024. He explained that a catheter is inserted into the belly area and at night, is hooked up to a machine. The fluid is filtered and goes into the abdominal cavity for a few hours before draining out. There are multiple cycles through the night, he said.
He underwent this type of dialysis four nights a week for around 13 months until August 2025.
“Then I had a problem where I had a real bad bacterial infection in there. They call it peritonitis, and plus a hernia in my belly button, which required a surgery to correct,” Williams explained. “And at the same time that hernia was what was causing me to get the infection, because it wasn’t allowing the fluid that was in my belly to discharge when it was supposed to when I was hooked up to the machine.”
After the catheter was removed and the hernia repaired, Williams swapped to doing hemodialysis in late August 2025. He’s been going to the Fresenius clinic in Denham Springs until they learned about a new type of dialysis machine similar to the methods used in Europe that double filters to cleanse the blood better, Williams said.
This machine is at a Hammond location, which means a further drive for Williams, but one that’s worth it in his opinion.
“I was having to drive to Hammond, which is like 35 minutes so, but the difference in the quality of the filtration, in my mind, made it worth the effort. Because if I feel better after each treatment, and I have more energy and I sleep better, it’s well worth it.”
Williams now waits for a donor match through Tulane Medical while he undergoes dialysis in Hammond. He’s been on the list for around three years now. While they’re waiting, he and his wife decided to put some vinyl stickers on their vehicles asking for people to consider donating a kidney.
The family said the decals are just a way to increase awareness and increase his chances of finding a donor match.
“My daughter, Jennifer, cut it out. She’s got one of those little cricut machines, and she cut it out,” Williams said. “It has a kidney symbol, heart and a lifesaver. The bottom line says, ‘Be my lifesaver,’ and then we have a QR code on the window. The QR code, if anybody looks at it and they scan it, it’ll take them to a one-page bio for us where it explains about my wife and I, and how long I’ve been going through with this kidney stuff, and how we’re involved in different things.”
On the website, there’s more information about Williams’ need and the process for becoming a donor, including a link that will take visitors to Tulane’s Living Donor website, which contains videos and information about becoming a donor.
“All of our family already pretty much knows and a couple of my kids are not eligible to donate. My wife, they’re trying to tell her she’s probably too old, because a lot of clinics don’t want to take a donor patient if they’re over a certain age. And she and I are just a year and a half, roughly, apart in age. So we’re having to depend on people outside of our immediate family, primarily,” Williams explained.
Even if someone isn’t a perfect match to donate to Williams, he wants to encourage them to consider applying anyway.
“They have what they call a paired exchange program where two or three different people can get kidneys because of other people wanting to donate, even though they didn’t have the right type. They kind of cross match them with somebody else who, in turn, gets the kidney that somebody was going to donate to them, they send it to this other person,” Williams said. “So it’s like a three- or four-way swap, I would end up getting a kidney at the end of it.”
MORE: Local mother & daughter part of life-changing kidney swap across state lines
There’s no cost for donors, as Williams’ medical insurance covers the donor’s expenses for the testing, and hospital and surgery. Donors usually have minimal downtime after the procedure, as well, and can return to work fairly quickly.
Williams is hoping to find his donor match soon so that he can continue traveling internationally with his wife as part of their ministry of drilling water wells in areas with no fresh water. The ministry recently worked on its 22nd water well, and Williams is hoping he’ll be able to travel again sooner than later.
“I’m doing dialysis every other day, except on the weekend, so it severely limits your ability to travel and do things.” Even after his transplant, Williams will have to take special medication to reduce the risk of his body rejecting the kidney, and will be at greater risk of infections.
However, he hopes that getting a new kidney will put him back on track for traveling abroad again, even with the risk: “That beats getting dialysis.”
For more information on kidney donation and how to help Mark Williams, visit here.
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