A new journey

In May 2015, Greg Hasberry and Bob Kuykendall were undergoing surgery. For Hasberry, it was a lifesaving surgery. For Kuykendall, it was life-giving — he was giving Hasberry one of his kidneys.

The two men have undergone a year and a half of recovery since their kidney surgeries, and in June, they plan on taking on a new challenge — Mount Kilimanjaro. Hasberry, Kuykendall and his son, Cade Kuykendall, plan to go on the trip, and they hope it will carry several messages. One hope is that they can raise money and awareness for the Kidney Foundation; another is to encourage everyone to give back. They also hope by sharing personal stories of physical, emotional and spiritual struggle, they can help others through the difficult times they are facing.

“When I heard about this potential Kilimanjaro thing, I thought, ‘That’s what we need, a new struggle to do together,’” Kuykendall said. “Something to overcome because that seems to be the only way to get people.”

They hope to connect with people overcoming their own struggles, whether money or stress or depression, Kuykendall said. Both he and Hasberry had to confront their own obstacles around the time of the transplant surgery. 

Hasberry, a nationally known bodybuilder and trainer, had to confront the toll his kidney failure and the subsequent years of dialysis took on his body. 

“Truthfully, I’ve always been such a person who relies on their physicality for things, that to have it taken away from me was a huge mind game,” he said. “It’s a very real process from a mental standpoint, that I totally underestimated.”

At the same time, Kuykendall was going through a rough time in his personal faith. 

“I was really in a stressful place, and the more I prayed, the less response I got,” Kuykendall said.

Obstacles and milestones made him cynical about religion, he said, when he got a call from Hasberry. The questions Hasberry had could easily be answered over the phone, but Kuykendall said he felt the need to see him in person. He heard about Hasberry’s need for a donor and suddenly was faced by multiple donor-related messages.

On a family trip to Auburn, Kuykendall sat down with a man who had donated a kidney eight years prior. At the time, Kuykendall did not know that, but it just happened to come up in conversation. Once they got home from the trip, Kuykendall saw ads about becoming an organ donor on TV.

“I think the truth of it is, he [God] was doing a ‘two birds with one stone’ kind of thing,” Kuykendall said. “I think it was as much about me and the process I was in as it was about him and finding a new kidney.”

God was working to strengthen Kuykendall’s faith at the same time as he was answering Hasberry’s prayers for a kidney, Kuykendall said. The way they helped each other through a difficult time is something Kuykendall hopes to pass along to others through their Kilimanjaro trip.

“My big kick in this whole thing is people interacting with each other,” Kuykendall said. “How many people do we come in to contact with every day that may need something that we’ve got? Whether it’s just a word of advice or a thought or a hug or freaking eye contact.”

For Hasberry, the trip also means projecting a message of hope. Before he found out Kuykendall was approved as a donor, Hasberry had started to tell close friends he was not sure he would make it.

“I was getting tired; I was beat up,” he said. “I was having to cut my days down at work, and I could feel myself failing. I had to come to peace with it.”

The journey also caused Hasberry to face and eventually lose his greatest coping mechanism — anger. Family says, “I’m more prepared for war than I am anything else,” Hasberry said, and that anger and physical strength was something he took into his fight against kidney disease. 

“I probably lived a little angry because it kept me motivated. Even that ran out,” he said. 

Once it ran out, Hasberry had to find strength elsewhere. For him, it was in his faith.

“One of the largest things that I’ve realized through this whole process is nobody, not a single one of us, can do this on our own,” he said. “You think you can, but you’re going to get to a point where you’re going to need a hand spiritually, emotionally. When I say that you need something, all you really need is God.”

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is both a physical and spiritual goal for Hasberry, who said it is a way to prove the progress he has made in a year and a half.

“Getting to the top of the world, to me, symbolizes getting as close to God as I can while I’m here,” Hasberry said.

In the months leading up to the trip, all three travelers are working to prepare emotionally and physically. Even though physicians see Hasberry at 100 percent, he said he feels closer to 80 percent. Kuykendall and his son are going on regular walks to prepare for the mountain. And all three are working to generate community support. 

Local businesses, including Alabama Outdoors, Planet Fitness on Valleydale Road and ARC Realty, have reached out to sponsor their trip, which Kuykendall said is encouraging.

“It gives me a little bit of hope, that these guys came to us and say, ‘Hey we want to give a little help,’” he said. 

Planet Fitness is also sponsoring a three-day, 20-mile hike at Oak Mountain State Park in February. They will hike to Kings Head Overlook during the trip.

If businesses, which have the ultimate goal to make money, are willing to donate, Kuykendall said he believes individuals will give back as well. While they are funding the trip out of pocket, all money donated will go to the Kidney Foundation.

To follow updates on their trip or to donate, go to team.kidney.org and search “Mountain.”