One for the Corps

Eric Koluch hadn’t seen Dathan O’Dell in eight years. 

Yet when a curious Facebook post from O’Dell popped up in Koluch’s social media feed in late May 2023, Koluch did not hesitate to respond. 

His friend and fellow Marine faced kidney failure and needed a donated kidney. 

Koluch acted as any Marine would — he gave him one of his.  

Koluch and O’Dell, both retired from active duty, sat next to each other on Koluch’s porch last month, talking about their shared transplant experience at VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center in September 2023.  

Of the 577 organ transplants Hume-Lee performed last year, 317 were kidney transplants. VCU Health’s nearly 70 years of transplant excellence began in 1957, when it was the site of Virginia’s first kidney transplant.  

O’Dell, who said he cannot remember a time in his life when he didn’t want to be a Marine, joined the Corps in 2004. Koluch had joined the year before. They met in 2013 when they were both stationed in North Carolina. They were friends through work, they recalled, bonded by their military service, and worked together through 2015 until they were reassigned elsewhere.  

Other than keeping track of each other through social media, they didn’t keep in touch. 

Which makes the summer of 2023 so remarkable, O’Dell said. 

I said I’d die for these people, [and O'Dell] was just asking for a kidney.

Eric Koluch

Between the summers of 2019 and 2021, he explained, his health deteriorated. Normal daily routines began to wear him out. He’d take naps for hours at a time. His blood pressure rose. Blood work was showing signs of a problem.  

He was told by military medical personnel, however, that it was stress-related, and it was normal.  

“I wish that were a joke,” said O’Dell, who lives near Quantico, Va.   

When other injuries led to a final physical medical evaluation in August 2021, he learned he had stage 3 kidney disease. By Thanksgiving that year, he said, he retired from active duty, but he couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without needing to rest.   

By February 2022, he was at stage 4 and heading toward stage 5.  

He started dialysis in March 2022.  

For 18 months, O’Dell said, his life was tied to a machine in his bedroom the size of a printer. He would use it for nine hours every night — missing even one day negatively impacted how he felt. Close friends and family knew of his condition, but no one else.  

“It felt like everything about my life revolved around that machine,” O’Dell said. “I became like a shadow of myself.” 

A kidney transplant became an option for him. He worked through Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, who recommended VCU Health for his transplant. 

He also worked with DOVE, a national organization that connects living kidney donors with potential veteran transplant recipients. O’Dell shared a DOVE Facebook post and added a few sentences about his own situation and his need for a donated kidney.    

“I’m not a guy who normally likes to ask for help,” O’Dell said, adding that it may have been the only personal post he’s ever made on Facebook. “But if I don’t ask, I won’t get it.”  

Meanwhile, Koluch was living his life on his Maryland farm when he happened to see an uncharacteristic Facebook post from O’Dell.  

It was personal and it was dire.  

Koluch responded, as did others, O’Dell said.  

“There were quite a few people who offered to get tested to see if they’d be a match, which was really shocking to me,” O’Dell said. “I didn’t expect so many people to even consider getting tested — that’s a huge thing, to literally be willing to give up part of yourself.”  

Koluch waived off such thoughts.

I’m still 100% Marine Corps parts.

Dathan O'Dell 

Back then, he said, he checked off the boxes: He was in good health. He was not scared of surgeries and generally did well in hospital settings. He had a relative who lived with one kidney and knew it was possible to live fully.  

Plus, he was a Marine.  

“I said I’d die for these people,” Koluch said about his duty to his fellow Marines. O’Dell “was just asking for a kidney.”  

The transplant was scheduled for Sept. 11, 2023. Arriving on the MCV Campus for their respective surgeries, it was then that the two men saw each other for the first time in person since 2015.  They next saw each other a few days post-surgery.  

As explained by their VCU Health transplant teams prior to surgery, Koluch would take a few days to feel well enough to get out of bed and start his recovery process.   

O’Dell, however, felt very different after surgery.  

“I felt like a new person,” he said. “I couldn’t remember the last time I felt that good and had that kind of energy after just waking up.”  

But there was a deeper healing.    

“It was like my soul had a chance to rest and it was coming back to life,” he said, adding that two months later, he was back to work. Though retired from active duty, he’s a full-time defense contractor at Marine Corps Base Quantico. Today, his kidney function is nearly back to where he was pre-disease. Mentally, he said, he’s taking things day by day.  

“I dealt with a lot mentally during dialysis, but I’ve tried to be more positive,” he said. “I don’t take anything for granted.”  

Looking back, O’Dell also said he’s grateful to those who considered donating, but he’s especially glad it was Koluch who was ultimately the best match.  

He cracked a smile and said, “I’m still 100% Marine Corps parts.”    

To support the VCU Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center, please contact Andrew Hartley, director of development in the Office of Medical Philanthropy and Alumni Relations, at 804-305-3055 or aphartley@vcu.edu.