NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
June 29, 2009
Contact: Michele Nicholson
Public Information Officer
(850) 651-7420
OCSO DEPUTY IN NEED OF KIDNEY TRANSPLANT
Briggs was
diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 1998. Currently, his two kidneys
combined operate at only ten percent of normal function.
Still, determined to pull his typical
twelve hour shifts as a member of the traffic enforcement unit at the Okaloosa
County Sheriff's Office, Deputy Briggs fights the constant fatigue.
"I have good days and
bad days," said Deputy Briggs. "But it does make you very, very tired".
Deputy Briggs
needs a kidney transplant to regain a normal lifestyle. He's currently on the
transplant needs list at Tulane University Hospital in New Orleans. There is
typically a three to seven year waiting period there.
In Florida alone, the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services says more than 3000 people are registered as in need
of a kidney transplant.
Deputy Briggs was
encouraged after recently hearing about a happy ending for an Escambia County
Deputy in a similar plight whose wife donated a kidney. Briggs' girlfriend in
fact hoped to do the same for him, but is unable.
He's hoping public awareness of his plight will spark a potential donor's
interest, so he can recover as well.
For more
information, contact Public Information
Officer Michele Nicholson at 850-651-7420.
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