By Jackson Day 
Douglas Budget
Via- Wyoming News Exchange

DOUGLAS (WNE) — Phil Ladwig described getting dialysis as being akin to medieval torture. 

“If you ever go over to those castles in Europe and go down to the dungeons where they had the chains and stretch machine and everything – they have a dialysis machine in the corner,” Ladwig said, speaking in quite a jubilant tone for such a serious topic. “It hurts. It’s painful. They stick you with a 15 gauge needle – two of them – and you’ve got to sit still for five hours at a time, three times a week. You can’t move your arm or anything.” 

After having a kidney removed due to medical complications, Ladwig spent nine long months receiving dialysis. 

Nowadays, he is ecstatic to have been saved from the torture of almost daily dialysis treatments, thanks to his long time friend and fellow Douglas native, Ron Lambert. 

“I was asking everybody I came across (for a kidney). At the time I even had a banner on the back of my truck,” Ladwig said. “I was talking to Ron one day – Ron’s an old time buddy of mine, I’ve known him my entire life – and I just asked him, ‘You wouldn’t happen to have a kidney you want to get rid of?’ . . . and, he did!” 

Ron wanted to help. He took some time and studied the procedure. After a bit of study and a little bit of soul searching, he determined that although he wasn’t sure if his kidney would be compatible, he was going to do everything he could to help his best friend. 

“One day, the good Lord spoke to me and he said, ‘I’ve given you such good health your entire life, and I’ve saved your life so many times. You don’t even know how many times I’ve saved your life. I’ve given you really, really good health. So, I think you should share that with somebody,’” Lambert said. 

Lambert started going through the testing process to see if his kidney would be compatible with Ladwig’s body. 

“They ran me through all the tests, and I didn’t have one single problem on any of them. When it came time for the crossmatch, (the doctor) said our blood was so closely matched it looked like we could be brothers – so I figured it was all meant to be,” he said. 

The bloodwork revealed what the two had already known for over 60 years: that in many ways they practically were brothers. The two grew up together, playing in Douglas’ streets as children and the men have maintained a treasured, lifelong friendship. 

“Ron’s always been there. We’ve always known each other. Actually, one of the first things I ever saw when my mom brought me home from the hospital (as a newborn) was Ron,” Ladwig  recounted. “We’d be playing on the street, my mom would call us in for dinner and he’d come running down like the rest of us. It was fun. He really is like a brother from another mother.” 

Lambert said that in a way, his helping Ladwig was like trying to save his family. 

“They were kind of like a second family to me,” Lambert added. “I was very good friends with all of them. Phil’s the only one left now. So, I guess in a strange and bizarre way I kind of felt like I was trying to save the whole family.” 

Lambert  explained that it was not a hard decision to help Ladwig. 

Although the operation had to be postponed at one point due to Ladwig’s poor health, Lambert was able to move forward with little hesitation and confidence that everything was being orchestrated by God. 

“I never really got nervous, shook up, anxious or anything like that. It was all from God. He took care of us from beginning to end,” Lambert said. 

Now nearly six months after the operation, the two men have recovered and are in good health. Ladwig has repeatedly expressed immense gratitude for his “brother from another mother” and everything he’s done for his dear friend. 

“I’m filled with a pure sense of joy. I just can’t believe he did that,” Ladwig said. “I was scared because I thought I was gonna be on dialysis longer. If it wasn’t for Ron, I’d still be miserable. “And the problem with dialysis is you don’t have a very good lifespan. The average lifespan of a person on dialysis is about five years. The average time to find a type-O donor is about five years . . . .” 

“Ron saved my life,” Ladwig said, his voice full of gratitude.