Stevie Wonder, real name Stevland Haraway Morris, is a renowned singer-songwriter who has inspired a wide range of musical genres and written some of the most well-known songs ever. However, the singer of Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours had to take time off from his busy schedule a few years ago to receive a kidney transplant.
One of the best-selling artists in the world, Wonder informed a crowd in London’s Hyde Park of his operation back in July 2019. Before his scheduled operation in September, the celebrity said he would only do three more gigs. The celebrity kept specifics about his health and the reasons behind his surgery a secret, but admitted that he did so in order to stop rumors about his condition from spreading, saying: “I have a donor and it’s all good.”
According to the NHS, a kidney transplant involves the immediate placement of a healthy kidney from one individual into the body of another, whose kidney has minimal to no function.
Filtering waste from the blood and turning it into urine is the kidney’s primary job in the body. If the organs are unable to do this, waste can accumulate and pose a life-threatening threat.
Most often, renal failure or chronic kidney disease, the latter of which is linked to aging, causes the kidneys to lose their capacity to operate.
The most common causes of chronic kidney disease are other illnesses that place stress on the kidneys. Typically, symptoms don’t start to show up until the disease has progressed further. But when they do, people might anticipate:
Tiredness
enlarged hands, feet, or ankles
breathing difficulty
I feel nauseous.
urine with blood in it (urine).
Dialysis, a blood-filtering technique, can be performed prior to the requirement for a complete transplant. The greatest long-term option for people with renal failure is a transplant because this partially replicates the functioning of the kidneys but is very time-consuming.
People can survive on just one kidney, thus unlike many other types of organ donation, kidney donation can be done while you are still living.
But before someone is given the chance to be a donor, they must pass a battery of tests to make sure they are healthy enough for the procedure required to remove a kidney.
Since they are more likely to have the same blood type and tissue type, it is ideal for a living donor to be a close relative of the receiver. This greatly reduces the danger of the body rejecting the donated kidney.
If a suitable deceased donor kidney is not yet available, those in need of a kidney transplant must wait until a suitable living donor kidney becomes available. A dead donor kidney transplant often requires a two to a three-year waiting period.
The National Health Service (NHS) emphasizes that a kidney transplant is a significant medical procedure with numerous possible dangers.
These dangers include blood clots and infection in the short term. Long-term issues like diabetes and an elevated risk of infections are frequently connected to the medication you must take to lower the possibility of rejection.
Wonder, 71, said he is feeling “wonderful” at a news conference 10 months after receiving a kidney transplant.
The Superstition singer also said that after receiving the new organ, he felt 30 years younger than his actual age.
According to the Associated Press, he declared, “Since I was discharged from the hospital, the nurses have made sure I’ve taken my medicine on time, and I’m going to do it for as long as I have to, even if it is the rest of my life.”
I feel fantastic. My voice sounds fantastic.
I just want to thank everyone for their prayers and kindness because I feel like I’m about 40 at the moment.
Similarly like before he underwent surgery, the blind singer warned fans not to believe “rumors” about his health.
“If I’m feeling anyway, I’ll let you know,” he continued. We don’t want false information to spread. I am healthy and alive.
According to the NHS, people should adopt a healthy lifestyle after receiving a kidney transplant to avoid their new kidney from failing.
It is advised that people give up smoking, maintain a nutritious diet, get in shape if they are overweight or obese, and take other measures to lower their chance of contracting infections.
Immunosuppressant drugs must be taken by patients, typically for the remainder of their lives, in order to stop the body’s immune system from attacking the new kidney.
