D.C. Councilmember Marion Barry successfully underwent kidney transplant surgery Friday night, a spokeswoman for the former D.C. mayor said Saturday.
Clive Callender, director of the Howard University Hospital Transplant Center, said Saturday Barry was “awake” and “alert,” and was behaving normally based on what’s expected after surgery. The procedure took about six hours, Callender said.
Barry had completed breathing exercises, said Callender, adding that most patients who undergo the surgery remain in the hospital for five days.
“The older you are, the more aggressive we are,” said Callender. “Sometimes exercise is underappreciated — and underemphasized. It should not be in this case.”
Barry is 72.
“You tell the residents of the District that I’m ‘A-OK,’” Barry said through spokesman Natalie Williams on Saturday.
Williams also revealed the identity of the kidney donor as 47-year-old Kim Dickens, a native of Washington, D.C. and a Ward 6 resident. Williams said Dickens, who has known Barry for about 10 years, would be available for interviews later this week.
Dickens will “probably show up with Mr. Barry in his first public appearance” late this week, said Williams.
Dr. Martin Dillard, who has been involved with Barry’s health care since early 2007, said “his loss of function is attributed to the fact that he’s a diabetic and [he has] hypertension.”
Dillard said he met with the former mayor every three months or so, but by April 2008, his kidney function had deteriorated to the point where dialysis treatments became necessary.
“Like many other patients, he wasn’t quite ready to accept that change in his lifestyle,” said Dillard.
Dillard said he broached the idea of a transplant in November, and Barry was interested.
Barry says his declining health is to blame for his failure to file his 2007 federal and local tax returns on time. The Ward 8 councilmember has not filed his tax returns on time in eight of the last nine years. He submitted his 2007 returns last week.
