Charles Young

Charles Young, a 49-year-old quality assurance director at Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth, would be the first to admit that he had let his health go when he tipped the scales at 400-plus pounds. But the former U.S. Marine had never let that stop him from pursuing his many interests, including award-winning painting, building model airplanes, and a bucket list that included skydiving and zip lining.

That all changed in 2017, when Charles began to feel extremely tired over a period of months. In May, when he met up with Marine buddies for their annual reunion at Lake Texoma, his friends noticed his grey pallor and noticeable drop in energy. Together with his wife, they hatched a plan to get him to a doctor. Before he was given a diagnosis, however, he ended up in the ER, where he learned that his kidneys were failing.

Charles was immediately placed on dialysis but was determined to find a better long-term solution. Learning that a kidney transplant might be possible, he researched options and chose Medical City Fort Worth — whose kidney transplant program is ranked first in the nation for survival outcomes and has the shortest wait time for patients receiving a deceased donor kidney transplant, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

Tests showed that Charles’ sister, Theresa Glidden, was a perfect match. The operation was performed one hundred days after beginning dialysis.

Two weeks after the transplant, Charles was walking up to eight miles a day. Five months post-surgery, he took his first skydive. He’s now fully committed to his health and watches what he eats, exercises daily and has lost nearly 200 pounds.

“I am not going to waste this second chance,” Charles said.