Page 26 - Laker Connection Spring 2013

ROSALYNN GRESHAM AND SARAH STEIN
A TALE OF STRENGTH,
DEVOTION AND PERSEVERANCE
By John Shiffert
Sarah Stein and Rosalynn Gresham
It’s a story that proves the strength of the human spirit, the devotion of one Clayton State professor, and the perseverance of one Clayton State student. Rosalynn Gresham, a 33- year-old Clayton State University student from Hampton, Ga., is continu- ing her studies, despite a medical condition that will imperil her life if she can- not find a matching donor for a kidney transplant.
Gresham’s on-going strug-
school and, four years after that, she graduated pre-law from Georgia State University. She went into the job market and got married, but she also became more ill. In January 2012, her kidneys shut down, and she had emergency surgery, spending three days in a coma. Since then, she has been on dialysis, al- ternating her time between her Clayton State classes and the hospital.
“Since Dr. Stein's gen- uine concern for helping me, I have been able to go to dialysis without feeling hopeless and de- pressed about waiting my turn on the kidney transplant list,” she says.
Still, it’s not an easy
path, waiting never is,
but waiting for a match
for a transplant requires
an entire different level
of perseverance. Thus, the importance of individuals volun- teering to be tested as possible donors, and the need for “gen- uine concern” from as many people as possible.
“Physically, I’m drained and tired,” Gresham says about the dialysis appointments. “I’m ready to get out when I’m in the lobby.”
Stein hasn’t heard anything about a possible match since she was tested some months ago, a not atypical circumstance in what is often a life-and-death scenario for potential transplant recipients. Stein, and Gresham’s classmates, are encouraging others to reach out to Gresham so that they can be tested with the hope of ending the dialysis.
If there is any justice, in addition to that found in Stein’s class- room, Rosalynn Gresham will one day be free from dialysis.
gle is with lupus and, more recently, kidney failure. She needs a donated kidney to discon- tinue her three-times-a-week, for three hours and 15 minutes at a time, dialysis treatments. One of those volunteering to be tested as a match was Clayton State Criminal Justice professor
Dr. Sarah Stein.
Life doesn’t stop during the testing process, either medically or scholastically, and Gresham’s fall 2012 semester was inter- rupted in October for colitis surgery. Undaunted, she returned to class, made up the work she missed, and took some steps on her own; including setting up a website (http://www.givefor- ward.com/newlifenewbeginnings) for the purpose of fundrais- ing and to raise awareness for people to get tested to see if they are a match.
Gresham has faced more than a decade of adversity. At age 17, she was diagnosed with lupus, an immune disorder that attacks the organs and has no cure.
“I found myself just sad and depressed,” she says. “For me to try to accept it at that age was really hard.”
She persevered. A year after her diagnosis, she graduated high
Gresham studying on campus.
24 THE LAKER CONNECTION