Manley Carpenter – Kidney Disease Patient Success Story

Saving the day — and a kidney!

After more than a dozen doctors failed to help Manley Carpenter, Methodist Dallas responded and restored his health.

As far as Amarillo resident Manley Carpenter was concerned, life was good. The young man had started a new job, and his wedding was only weeks away. But on May 10 last year, he was rushed to the emergency department in excruciating pain.

That same pain would accompany him on his wedding day and send him to the emergency department five more times over the next five months.

“It was far worse than anything I’ve ever experienced, and nothing helped, not even painkillers,” he says.

Doctor after doctor was at a loss for the cause of Manley Carpenter’s pain, so his mother, Dayna Carpenter, turned to the Internet. In her research, she came across a rare condition called nutcracker syndrome (NCS).

Finding doctors who listen

NCS is rare enough that many doctors whom the Carpenters consulted had never heard of it.

But two doctors who had heard of it — and, even better, had experience treating it — were at Methodist Dallas Medical Center, where Dayna Carpenter had received care in 1999.

“We were treated so fantastically 14 years ago,” she says. “I joked that there was a hidden camera because this quality of care just couldn’t be real.”

Within a week, the family was in Dallas meeting with urologist Sujeet Acharya, MD, and transplant surgeon Richard Dickerman, MD. Both are independently practicing physicians on the medical staff at Methodist Dallas.

Experience and teamwork

NCS is caused by a blockage of the vein leaving the kidney.

“In Manley’s case, it was a congenital condition, and the vein was becoming more and more compressed by other blood vessels, further impeding blood flow,” Dr. Dickerman says. “Lack of treatment would have led to the loss of his kidney.”

To restore blood flow, Dr. Dickerman performed a complex laparoscopic procedure: transplanting the kidney into the pelvis.

“I was sore afterward, but within a month I was feeling the best I’ve felt in years,” Manley Carpenter says.

Prayers answered

Manley Carpenter and his wife, Melissa, will celebrate their first anniversary this June. He is thankful not only for his beautiful, supportive wife but also for his restored health.

“Dr. Dickerman was an answer to prayer,” he says. “You want to get autographs or pictures from your favorite athlete, but I wanted to get one from him. He saved my life.”

From the summer 2013 edition of Shine magazine.