A Year Later, Shank Has New Battle

would have preferred to be sitting in the corner office at , serving as Mayor of the City of Havre de Grace this spring.

Instead, Shank spends three afternoons a week at in Aberdeen, receiving dialysis treatment after losing a kidney in November.

It was shortly after —when incumbent in fending off the challenge from Shank—that the former City Councilman began feeling ill.

“I was really feeling miserable,” Shank said. “From on, I was not myself.”

By the fall, Shank was hospitalized, spending three weeks at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He lost a kidney in early November, and began a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday series of treatments in Aberdeen the week of Thanksgiving.

Shank, 56, is on the National Kidney Waiting List—a process that he said can take three to five years.

He’s spent plenty of time with , a woman he used to pass in the halls at the .

Lately, they pass in the lobby at .

“She and I used to be on the same shift [for dialysis]. We used to sit next to each other several times and would talk together. She’s now there on a different shift,” Shank said.

Most treatments take him around three hours. He’s been going in for treatments in the late morning.

“It takes me anywhere from 10-12 hours to feel better. If I got off at 6 p.m., I really lost the whole night’s sleep,” he said.

Many friends and fellow Havre de Grace residents have come forward to offer their kidneys. Shank’s wife, Jessica, and daughter, , have undergone testing.

Still, there’s no match for Shank—whose mother donated a kidney to his brother in the 1980s.

His father and a cousin have diabetes.

Shank, himself, became an insulin-dependent diabetic on his 16^th birthday. It robbed him of a great deal of his vision years ago.

When he arrived at the hospital last fall, his extremities were severely swollen. He lost 27 pounds very quickly once he began dialysis.

“I’m stabilized now. I think I’m down to 201 or 202 in that area,” he said. “They’d still like to have me lose more weight.”

His diet is strict—virtually no processed foods.

No ice cream. No crackers. No peanut butter or American cheese. There are limitations on salt and fluid intake.

“They say don’t ever drink a Big Gulp,” Shank said, noting that he’s to limit his daily fluids to 32-34 ounces. “I try to do one bottle of water a day which is 16 ounces.”

With help, Shank isn’t struggling to adapt. Jessica has to soak potatoes overnight for him. He’s admitted that the diet is forcing him to be healthier.

“Some patients don’t have a lot of appetite, but I still have a phenomenal appetite. I’m always hungry. In a way, its good, I guess.”

That hunger exists in life, too.

A year after his fellow residents said “no thanks” to him as a potential mayor, Shank isn’t letting life-altering treatments slow him down.

“I’m trying to find a project—something that hasn’t been done in Havre de Grace,” he said. “I really wanted to do a historical society. Only a couple people were interested. I really want a project.”

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Those interested in applying to become a donor can contact Shank directly for an application, or call 410-328-5408 and request an application to donate a kidney to Shank.

For more information on donating organs, click here.