Jay Holman, Class of 1971, has 52% function
remaining in his kidneys.
His son, Michael Holman, and brother,
Dwight Holman, both are on the kidney transplant list.
31.4% of African-Americans are on the
kidney transplant list even though they are only 16.4 of America’s population,
which makes them twice as likely to have kidney problems as other groups.
Health care experts and researchers
blame:
·
Uncontrolled hypertension, Cconsistently high blood pressure.
·
·
Diabetes.
·
·
Polycystic kidney disease, an inherited condition that causes
fluid-filled cysts grow inside kidneys.
·
·
Hypertensive nephrosclerosis, with chronic high blood pressure damaging
the kidney’s tissue.
·
Glomerular diseases that attack the kidney’s ability to
filter waste.
·
·
Renovascular and other vascular diseases that affect the
kidney’s blood vessels.
·
Poorer access to insurance and medical care, leading to delayed
diagnosis and faster progression of kidney disease.
There
are more than 92,000 people waiting for a kidney in the United States, and more
than a third are African Americans.
In
2011, there were 5,771 living donor transplants performed --the lowest rate in
10 years -- but only 813 kidneys were implanted in African Americans.
Jay
lives in North Carolina but joins Class of 1971 members for reunions regularly
in West Virginia, particularly the Ahouse sisters, Kitty Morrison and Sue
Schrader.
Jay’s son Michael was
North Carolina’s Career and Technical Educations Teacher of the Year
for 2017. Michael came to Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools in 2011
as a teacher at East Chapel High School after four years in Granville County
Schools.
Jay Holman and wife Margaret were
married in 1974 in Fairmont and today live in White Hall after spending years
in North Carolina. They have 3 sons, Michael, Jay III and Robert.
Jay’s
siblings are Dwight Holman, Demetrice Holman Merriweather, Harry Nelson, Alsie “Tony”
Palmer. His siblings all attended Arsenal Technical High in
Indianapolis.
Jay is
the only Holman who graduated from Monongah High. Jay got his master’s from WVU
in 1997.
Jay III
is a Chicago banker and Robert works for the federal government out of
Clarksburg.
The
health curse for European-Americans is liver disease leading to liver
transplants. The problem is made worse by heavy alcohol consumption, which
health experts list as 5 or more drinks daily, and hastened toward life
termination by acute alcoholism.
We are
all affected by our ancestors’ hand-me-down DNA and our lifestyle habits when
it comes to health.
No one
is immune.
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