When I walk her she's gotta smell everything. She's a very curious animal.
I got caught up in a little bit of drinking but mostly drugs
That made me not feel.
And that's that's what my ultimate goal was, I didn't want to feel.
But you never realize...when you're in active addiction,
you never realize the people you hurt along the way.
When I was in active addiction the only conversation I wanted was, "You got any? How much?"
They brought me back to my cell and I got down on my knees.
I didn't try to make a deal with God I just told God,
"Just stick with me, stay with me while all this goes through, and when I'm done with it I'll get clean."
That was a Tuesday night.
Wednesday, about 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
They called me back in front of the magistrate,
and the magistrate informed me that Louisiana dismissed all charges.
And I um...I was released the next day.
Friday morning I was at a rehab center.
I was having chest pains radiating down my arm.
And I wound up at Ochsner for 4 days.
They were checking my heart out, it wasn't my heart, they don't know exactly what it was.
But I think it was my body telling me, "Hey, something's wrong."
And that's when they told me I had Hep C and I needed a transplant.
I think I was 11 on the list.
It wasn't long after that they called me.
I remember getting on a gurney, going to the operating room.
My sister was in the door of my hospital room and I can see the tears welling up in her eyes.
I said, "Don't worry, I'll be back."
She just nodded.
My grandmother remembers me saying I was going to be a doctor.
She said I said that when I was four-years-old.
Despite the family thinking that I was aiming towards an unachievable goal
because of the poor conditions we grew up in.
I never gave up on it.
Despite the alternative suggestions of what else I could become and should go into
I basically ignored those and continued down the straight and narrow pursuit to be a doctor.
When I was over in Iraq in 1991...
I even had the copy of the contract with the local civilian hospital in my hand
That my friend was still trying to get me come join and practice - and when I finished in Iraq
And finished my term in the Air Force I could go on into private practice.
I looked at that copy and I thought about and I said,
"You know these guys are dedicating themselves to protecting their country and giving their lives up for this"
"And here I am thinking about going into private practice just to make more money."
And I said, "It's not worth it. That's not what medicine is all about to me, it's not the money."
And at that point in time I got up and I took the contract and went over and dropped it in the waste basket.
And never looked back after that.
Amyloidosis, better known as an ATTR subtype that makes abnormal proteins.
And abnormally shapes those proteins. They get into the bloodstream.
And they get deposited in places they shouldn't be deposited because of that.
Namely into my peripheral nerves and into my heart muscle.
Then I had a pretty good idea what the prognosis was.
Because once that particular disease has been diagnosed,
From the time of diagnosis, you only have about two or three years left to live.
So, you can pretty much start counting down the time at that point.
Two teams have to work in conjunction like two hands of a symphony player.
In this situation we had two relatively rare events.
The first being a combined liver and heart transplant
And then the second case using that liver for a domino transplant into another recipient.
The team thought that the liver that we were taking out of Dr. Williams (Charles) was actually functioning well.
And could be used in another patient who is awaiting a liver transplant
Without the risk of transmission of amyloid to that patient.
So one extra organ meant the saving of an extra life, and I think that's priceless.
You know what I'm really looking forward to is the fact that...
This "agape", this "God's love" thing, I'm looking forward to witnessing face-to-face
How it extended from me to him and back the other way...or her, whoever it is.
I don't know because they haven't given me any clues as to who it is.
I just can't wait to meet the man.
Benny: Here we go.
Charles: So you must be who I'm meeting?
Benny: Yes sir.
Charles: Hi, Charles Williams. Benny: Benny Capagnano.
(Music)
I don't know how this works for your interview,
But I have never come as close to God as I have during that time.
I mean, I was in the room with him and he was in the room with me.
And I'm not talking about like "God is always with us" kind of thing.
I mean, I knew that he was there. I knew that in ways I've never known it before.
And the idea of loving those around you and strangers...
I really look in serving, I really look more in that role now than I did before.
Get yourself in a situation where you're looking at death and see if that don't change you.
You're never too old to change.
I don't look at days like today, I don't look at it being overcast and dreary,
I just I look at it like, "Hey, another opportunity to get outside and go play outside."
And I'm 64-years-old, I'm still using a word "play" like that.
One of the things that drew me to transplant is this really unique human connect and human generosity
That makes it all happen. For so many other diseases there's a medication that we give.
But in transplant it's really the generosity and the gift of a donor that makes life possible.