North Huntingdon restaurateur not slowing down, despite being on kidney transplant list

As Sam Murray makes tacos in the kitchen of his North Huntingdon restaurant and talks of a plan to ride his bicycle across the country, it’s hard to image he undergoes kidney dialysis before work three days week.

Or that he’s awaiting a kidney transplant.

“I am not surrendering to kidney disease. I take the attitude it’s not going to beat me. I have too much to live for,” said Murray, 61, the married father of four adult children.

It is a waiting game for Murray, owner of Salsa Sam’s in the Banco Industrial Park, who has been on the kidney transplant list for four years. Patients whose kidneys are functioning at less than 20% are candidates to be placed on the kidney transplant waiting list, said Dr. Kalathil Sureshkumar, medical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh.

Murray is one of an estimated 1,520 people awaiting a lifesaving kidney transplant in the Pittsburgh area, according to the Center for Organ Recovery and Education in Pittsburgh. He is among the 200 patients on the kidney transplant waiting list at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh as of Aug. 3, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, a public-private partnership of professionals involved in U.S. donation and transplantation system.

Murray had a match for a donor kidney last fall but opted instead to not to miss the opportunity to take a trip to Scotland with his wife, Jodi.

The match is one where the donor has a compatible blood type to the recipient and has the specific antibodies that will not attack the donor kidney, Sureshkumar said.

“I was feeling well, so I turned it down. I was thinking, ‘I’m not that bad,’ ” said Murray, a retired Allegheny County probation officer.

But, in June, Murray said, the toxins that had been building up in his body caused heart complications, landing him in the hospital.

Tests revealed Murray’s chronic kidney disease had reached stage 5, which Sureshkumar said indicates the kidneys are functioning at less than 15%. The patient needs dialysis when it drops to 10% or less, Sureshkumar said. The dialysis is essentially an artificial kidney, removing the waste from the bloodstream.

Murray said that is where he found himself in late June, with his lone functioning kidney working at 8%.

Still, Murray said, he resisted undergoing dialysis for three days a week, arguing with the doctor.

“I was in denial. I’m thinking it was an instant death sentence,” said Murray.

Murray did not learn he had kidney disease until age 33, after he was diagnosed with gout. When the gout was not getting better, tests determined his kidneys were not functioning properly.

His one functioning kidney was not working well at removing waste, placing him at stage 3.

The diagnosis prompted a major change in his lifestyle as he was on a mission to maintain his health and a weight of about 164 pounds. He went on a vegan diet, giving up meat and dairy products. He refrains from drinking beer, wine and whiskey and makes sure he drinks only 40 ounces of fluid a day.

For a man who has been selling his salsa sauce for about 10 years and has operated Salsa Sam’s restaurants in Irwin and North Huntingdon for three years, “I can’t even eat salsa” because of the potassium, Murray said.

“I value my life too much not to do it,” Murray said of his diet regimen.

Murray, a long distance bicyclist who still rides, has ambitious goals after he gets a new kidney.

“I want to ride across the country,” he said. “I’m training for it.”

Sureshkumar said a transplant operation could last two to three hours, followed by a lifetime of anti-rejection medication to suppress his immune system, which Murray said he is willing to do.

“I’m ready. They tell me the kidneys last 15 to 20 years. My goal is to have it last 30 to 40 years. I want to enjoy life with my wife and family.”