Perry man has reasons to be first up for blood drive

Terry Walker has plenty of motivation to be at the front of the line for the Kody Lucas Memorial Birthday Blood Drive on Saturday morning.

He knew Kody, who died of cancer in 2012, the year after he graduated from Perry High School.

Terry has supported the drive since it began eight years ago. It is held annually around Kody’s July 29 birthday and offers registration through the Red Cross National Bone Marrow donor program. It will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Christ Lutheran Church on Langston Road.

That’s the same road where Terry grew up on the family farm with his four sisters and two brothers.

He plans to arrive and leave early since he will be in somewhat of a hurry to get to Creekside Catfish Restaurant on the highway to Fort Valley. They’re having a Walker family reunion, on what would have been the 95th birthday of Terry’s father, the late Marion Walker.

The reasons run even deeper.

Terry has been giving blood since he was 18 years old. He will be 65 in November. His donor card says he has given five gallons, but he hasn’t had it updated in a few years. Now, he is approaching seven gallons. He tries to give blood every 55 days.

“It’s the river of life,’’ he said. “It doesn’t hurt, and a pint can save up to six lives.’’

His own life has been saved more than once.

The first time was when Emory Terrell Walker — named after both of his grandfathers — was born in Macon in 1951. There were complications during his birth, and he required a complete blood transfusion.

His most recent experience came seven months ago. He almost died and crossed over his own rainbow bridge.

He had been scheduled to give blood on Friday, Jan. 8, at a blood drive at The Westfield School.

Early that morning, Terry lost six pints of blood on his bathroom floor. It was the week he was released from the hospital after having hernia surgery. In the middle of the night, he collapsed with a ruptured duodenal ulcer.

The average man has 10 pints of blood in his body. Terry dropped more than half of his gas tank. He almost bled to death in his own home.

He is convinced he died, went to heaven and made the return trip in an out-of-body experience. A line-up of deceased relatives greeted him at the gates. He saw a man with a beard.

It was Elvis’ birthday.

“I think he’s the only one I didn’t see,’’ Terry said. “I went up there and back. The last thing I remember was the sound of the ambulance coming down the driveway.’’

At the hospitals in Perry and Warner Robins, his friends and family could not believe the grim news they were hearing from the medical staff. His son, Shane, said they were told it was the “perfect storm” of a ruptured duodenal ulcer, ulcerative colitis, anemia and diverticulosis.

His chances of survival were considered longer than a long shot. The odds of the Atlanta Braves winning the World Series this year were better than those given to his loved ones at the time.

His daughter, Ashley, wasn’t ready to pull the plug on hope.

“You don’t know my daddy!” she told the doctors.

Terry must have 100-pound bags of mortar mix running through his veins. He has worked at the Cemex plant in Clinchfield for the past 45 years. The former Penn-Dixie, built in the 1920s, is the only cement manufacturing operation in Georgia.

He had the blood transfusion at birth. He found out he was diabetic in 1999. He has survived two major automobile accidents. A smoker for 40 years, he made it through quintuple bypass surgery nine years ago.

Sure, he’s tough. He may even have superpowers.

He prefers to call it “blessed.” He also knows he is still here because of the unselfishness of others.

His testimony as a blood donor goes back to 1969. He was able to give the gift of life to a stranger who lived 80 miles away but was was suddenly so close he could reach to touch her arm.

His father had worked at the cement plant since 1956. A co-worker had a relative who was seriously injured in an automobile accident and fighting for her life at Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany.

“I was 18 years old and they didn’t have blood banks back then like they do now,’’ Terry said. “We were both (blood) type A-positive. At the hospital in Albany, she was on one table in the operating room, and I was giving blood on the other.’’

His voice cracked with emotion. Only a handful of people have ever heard the story.

“She lived to be 83 years old,’’ he said.

A month ago today, Terry celebrated his 43rd wedding anniversary. He met his wife, Jill, on a blind date in 1972, and they married a year later. Jill has pulled through recent heart surgeries, too, so the couple feels doubly blessed.

There aren’t many afternoons when he doesn’t listen to the song, “End of the Line” by the Traveling Wilburys, a former British-American group made up of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison. The lyrics speak to him.

“No man has ever had a more enchanted life,’’ he said. “I’m a medical miracle. I have a wonderful wife, and two wonderful children and grandchildren. When I look at the cup, it’s half full.’’

In many ways, it runneth over.

For more information about the Eighth Annual Kody Lucas Memorial Birthday Blood Drive, contact Ellie Williams at 478-960-0367 or elliewilliams@windstream.net or register online at redcrossblood.org.

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 7:07 PM with the headline "Perry man has reasons to be first up for blood drive."