WILLINGBORO — Marcus Randolph has a new lease on life.
And it’s thanks to his wife, Trisha, his teenage sweetheart and mother of his son Marcus Jr., 8, and 8-month-old daughter Tristen.
He now walks around with her left kidney keeping him alive.
“She gave me a good kidney, she may have even given me the better one,” he joked. “For me, it’s like I’ve got a whole new beginning. she basically gave me a new beginning; an extra life.”
He quipped he feels like a character from the Super Mario Brothers video game that just got a one of the mushrooms that gives another life.
Three years ago, the now 29-year-old visited a doctor for what he thought would be a standard check-up. It was Trisha who urged him to go. she felt since they were getting older, he should get a look over.
“Just to start the New Year off,” he said of the visit. “I was going just to go.”Within a few weeks, his life was turned upside down.
Levels on some of his blood work indicted a problem with his kidney function. He was soon diagnosed with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a kidney disease in which scarring of the organs occurs, preventing them from filtering blood properly.
According to the University of North Carolina’s Kidney Center, those who suffer from the disease often experience no symptoms. Randolph was one of those.
An athlete who played football and baseball when he was younger, he never had any health issues. As he toured all over the United States and around the world as the drummer with Robert Randolph and the Family Band, he was always the picture of health.
The condition changed that picture.
In 2008, he started dialysis for about a month and when that seemed to stabilize his vitals, he was treated with medicine. the steroids changed his appearance, causing bloating, Trisha Randolph said.
“When I got on dialysis, it did set in,” he said. “(Dialysis) drained me. I didn’t want to be there. It just made me weak and got me down. I’m looking around like ‘Wow, what I am doing here?’ ”
All the while, his wife suffered along with him. the two, who met at age 17 and 18 at a dry cleaner bsuiness, moved to Willingboro five years ago. Both are originally from Irvington, Essex County.
“It has been the hardest time of my life,” Trisha Randolph said. “It’s like a ton of bricks hit me.”
Her husband’s condition was treated with medicine for two years. He remained on tour with his band, which he formed 10 years ago with his cousins, Robert Randolph and Danyel Morgan.
The well-established band, which he terms as “funk with a gospel rock twist,” has released a live and three studio albums. Their latest, “We Walk this Road,” released in June 2010, was produced by T-Bone Burnett.
The band has toured with such notable acts as Eric Clapton, B.B. King, the Dave Matthews Band, Santana, the Black Crowes, and Al Green.
“It’s always good to have an occupation you like and love to do,” he said. “There is no greater feeling than being able to play in front of thousands of people.”
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During a tour stop at the House of Blues in New Orleans last September, Randolph noticed he wasn’t feeling well.
“I just felt sick,” he said. “I was throwing up. I couldn’t hold food down.”
He decided to fly home and try to “sleep it off.” His wife and mother, Sylvia, were having none of it. they made him go to the hospital.
“My blood pressure was like 206 over 114. It was bad, just a crazy number,” he said.
He learned he was in full renal failure and needed to start dialysis again. He started four months of dialysis on Sept. 9 and by December, his name was put on a kidney transplant list.
“My wife was the first person to step up,” he said.
She said she had a feeling they would be a match.
“I just always had that in my mind,” she said. “I prayed a lot to be a match. He is just this great spirit. I just wanted to see him not have to worry about his illness.”
Marcus Randolph feels fate set in when they met and their “love story” began, and not just because he now carries an organ of hers in him.
“We’re definitely meant to be,” he said. “I’m so thankful and glad I met her. she is a great wife and a great mom.”
During preparations for transplant surgery on Jan. 25 at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, Trisha Randolph was told the procedure would be harder on her.
She admits recovery has been tough and that she is just now starting to feel her normal self again. but, that is no matter.
“I am definitely relieved, it’s like a huge weight has been lifted,” she said.
Through it all, their faith sustained them, the couple said.
“We are a very spiritual family,” Trisha Randolph said. “We know God. He has strengthened me to get me through.”
The last few years were difficult on Marcus Jr., the couple said. Their father-son bond is tight and through it all, Marcus Randolph has tried to continue going to the all of the youngster’s sporting and school events.
“It’s through the grace of God that things worked out,” he said. “We’ve got to give thanks to God.”
Moving forward, he will need to make trips to the doctor twice a week for a bit longer, watch his diet closely and take medication to fight off rejection. He will need to be medicated for life.
None of that bothers him.
“Now, I’ve got a fresh kidney and no more dialysis and am just happy,” he said.
His mother and Trisha’s mom, Fay Gayle, have helped with the kids and duties around the house. Things are starting to get back to normal now. Marcus
Randolph hopes to be back on the road with the band in may, with his new outlook on life intact.
“Everything I do, I am going to go hard and make sure my family is stable,” he said. “I feel it’s over now and we can move on with our lives.”
Rose Krebs can be reached at 609-871-8064, , or twitter.com/rosekrebs.