Earnest Riggins got sick one Super Bowl Sunday back in the mid 1990s and went to the hospital. He had hypertension and for several weeks prior, Riggins was treated for what was thought to be bronchitis. Tests revealed that his high blood pressure had taken a devastating toll on some vital organs.
“The doctor came in and said, ‘you’ve lost 80 percent use of your kidneys,’” Riggins said. Although the news was difficult, the girl’s basketball coach accepted it and met his work obligations.
“I worked a full year at Country Day going to dialysis in the morning, I got up at 6 o’clock, went to dialysis, was off dialysis, came home, took a shower, had a sandwich and I was at work by l o’clock.,” Riggins said.
After about a year, he went on disability.
“They said it would be two or three years, maybe four on getting a kidney because I had a rare blood type,” he said. Shortly afterward, Riggins got the call he was waiting for – again on a Sunday night.
“About 11:15 I got a call from Barnes-Jewish and they said ‘we think we have a kidney for you.’ They asked me if I could be there in about 30 minutes and I said, ‘no.’ And then they said can you be here by 12 o’clock midnight and I said ‘I’ll be there,’” Riggins said. “They said that ‘well we can’t guarantee that it’s a match because we have to do the blood work with the antibodies and make sure everything matches and all of that, but doctors have gone now to pick up the organ. And they should be returning by the time we finish the tests. If everything goes well, you should be in surgery around 7 o’clock Monday morning.’”
Before he arrived at the hospital Riggins and his family had already called on divine intervention.
“We claimed the kidney already. We knew that it was going to be a fit. When I got to Barnes they went through the tests. I didn’t go to surgery at 7 but I went in at 8:09 a.m. and I came out at 3:15 p.m. And the doctor said to me, ‘Well, Mr. Riggins, everything is a success. Before we could close you up, your kidney was working fine and we emptied about five bags!’ The next morning, they had me up about 7 a.m. and I haven’t stopped walking since, and thanks to God, I haven’t had any problems.”
Riggins was also grateful to his donor. He wrote an unsigned letter to his anonymous donor expressing his appreciation through the National Kidney Foundation.
That was 1997. Since then, Riggins has not let kidney failure prevent him from doing the things he enjoys, like coaching girls’ basketball.
“I didn’t miss anything. I’m president of the St. Louis Crusaders girls’ basketball club, which I organized. Under that umbrella, we have about 16 or 17 different age groups. I coached two of those teams. I travelled – I went to nationals. I went to Columbus Ohio to the nationals. Prior to doing that, I had to call ahead to set up dialysis for me two days while I was there. We were there for a week,” Riggins said. “We had a national championship at Disney World. I set up dialysis in Florida while I was there twice, so there are ways, and you can’t sit at home feeling sorry for yourself, saying you can’t do this and you can’t do that because where there is a will, there is a way.”
While undergoing treatment, observations at his dialysis center prompted him to become an advocate for other dialysis patients – a mission he continues today.
“I didn’t feel I was as bad off as they were because I managed to deal with mine and many of them I don’t think had. I said to them that ‘the services here could be better.’ So I wrote a letter to the National Kidney Foundation and I got results. I attended the meetings – they sent someone in to spend a week to interview at the dialysis center,” Riggins said.
“They called me and then they asked me if I would be a regular spokesman and travel. And I said I did not know if my health would allow me to do that, but I would be happy to help in any way that I can on a local basis right here in St. Louis or surrounding areas.”
And that’s what he did. Riggins spoke, wrote letters, attended meetings, gave advice, came by to see them and even put his former chef skills to good use in a renal healthy manner. That means eating low/no sodium foods and avoiding salt, foods, juices or cola drinks that contain high amounts of sodium, phosphorus, potassium, and monitoring liquid intake. Riggins seasons his food with extracts and natural herbs instead.
“I prepared meals for that whole setting right here at my house and invited them out and this was while I was on dialysis because there was little that we could eat,” Riggins said. “We got permission that we could eat the food that I had prepared. I did some barbequing. I had to minimize the amount of tomato sauce that was in the barbeque and the pasta, and that sort of thing – tossed salad. And so we just sort of came out and had just a grand time.”
A grand time that started with Riggins willingly accepting his condition and getting the most out of life anyway.
“I asked my doctor once if it was okay to put some seasoning salt on my chicken. ‘Mr. Riggins,’ he said, ‘you can have NO salt of any kind—NO kind.’ And I really got a little upset with that I kind of looked at him funny and there were some things that I wanted to say and then when I thought about it, I said, well now, ‘he is telling me what is good for me. Why should I get upset about that?’ And if I want to live, I’ve got to do what is asked of me. It’s my own personal health. It is not for his health. So my whole attitude changed because of that. So I say to those people that are struggling with it –stick to your diet and do the things you are supposed to do.”
