Had you entered the doors of the Fairmont Hamilton Princess yesterday, odds are you would have been greeted by someone happier to be at work that day than most of us ever are.

Doorman and bellman Cory Lowe has been working at the Princess for three years, but he took some time off recently - to have a kidney transplant which has brought him back to life again.

When, at the age of 22 in 1994, Mr. Lowe went to doctors with extremely high blood pressure (250/175) and excruciating headaches, the tests began.

He was diagnosed with end stage renal failure (ESRF) after an extremely high percentage of protein was found in his urine.

“The doctors were wondering why my head hadn't exploded,” he joked.

The high blood pressure, a condition which had gone on for some time, was the “silent killer” that caused Mr. Lowe's condition.

“Get check-ups,” he warned. “Get back to basics.”

The dialysis began in 1995. For eight years Mr. Lowe spent nine hours a week hooked up to the dialysis machine, which performed the function of his kidneys for him: removing toxins from his blood.

“That was something I don't wish upon even my worst enemy,” he said.

Rolling up the sleeves of his uniform, he showed forearms covered in snaking raised scars.

“They had to make an access connecting a main vein and a main artery (for the dialysis),” he explained, running fingers over the scars. “It's called a fistula, and it's to make the vein strong enough to withstand the constant needles.”

Nine hours of needles every week will make even the strongest vein collapse after some time. Mr. Lowe has scars on both arms as well as a long scar down his left calf where doctors had to remove a vein, inserting it into his arm instead.

“You can feel the blood (inside the arm), it's what we call the ‘white water rapids',” he said. “It gives such pressure, enough to draw the blood up into the machine. It's your lifeline, you can't put any pressure on it.”

Even the slightest pressure on his arms could cause the fistula to erupt. Mr. Lowe has watched blood spurt from his arm to about the height of a table umbrella (perhaps more than six feet) into the air - and could do nothing but gently press his hand over the spot and “hope for the best”. He described having to instruct EMTs not to put a tourniquet around his arm on the many times he has been rushed to the hospital after the fistula burst.

“And then comes the time when you have used up all the space (in your arms),” he said.

Then patients have to have a catheter inserted - in Mr. Lowe's case there have been four, on both sides of his chest and groin. “With the perma-cath you are unable to bathe,” he said. Fortunately, Mr. Lowe's were temporary, and could be removed.

Dialysis is also very time-consuming and makes you susceptible to infection. Patients have to make food and diet changes to reduce their fluid intake - including no ice cream or Jell-O. They also stop urinating, as the machine basically performs that task for them.

“It's a blessing, though,” he added. “I wouldn't be here today without it.”

Missing even just a week or two “takes you right out of whack ... It messes with your eyesight, your blood pressure. You wonder how you can still be alive.”

And after years of interacting with nurses and other patients in the dialysis unit, “they become family”, he said.

That family is not without tragedy.

“Even while I was getting my operation, I lost three of my well-known friends,” he said. “That was very hurtful, one especially. I didn't get to tell him that I was going for the transplant. I guess I'm kind of dedicating this kidney to them.”

The nurses in the dialysis unit were “incredibly understanding ... it's an art form.” Mr. Lowe's employers and co-workers also bent over backwards to accommodate him, he said. Formerly a manager at the 24-7 Esso gas station on the corner of Par-la-Ville and Church Streets, he has been the doorman/bellman at the Hamilton Princess for three years.

Eight years dragged by. Then, in February of this year: “I got the call.”

A kidney donor had been found for Mr. Lowe - a living donor, a Korean woman. “That was all I got to find out about her. She wanted to remain anonymous.”

Mr. Lowe plans to write a letter to the hospital, however, who will then refer the letter to his donor.

“I want to meet her,” he said. “I was very fortunate, especially to have a living donor.” If the donor is still living, that means the procedure does not have to be rushed. “It's not like the kidney's on ice waiting.”

Still, Mr. Lowe did not want to take too much time. Within a week he flew from Bermuda to Boston. Fairmont gave him the staff rate at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel, and he checked into the Brigham and Women's Hospital for his operation on February 14 - Valentine's Day.

“It was the perfect gift - for me and my girlfriend.”

Mr. Lowe has been involved in a successful relationship throughout the duration of his illness, and has a seven-year old son - Jahkari Tucker - with fianc?e Thomasina Brown.

After a seven-hour operation and 12 hours of rest, nurses had Mr. Lowe on his feet trying to walk again.

“I was standing at a 45 degree angle. Lower, maybe 35 degrees.” But nurses at the hospital would not let him give him, and three days later he was out of the hospital.

Mr. Lowe recuperated in Boston with first his girlfriend and then his mother, Christine Simons, until March 12, when he returned to Bermuda. Now he is on anti-rejection medications which lower his immune system until the alien kidney is accepted by the body - perhaps another six to ten years.

His son, Jahkari, who had never known his father without dialysis, was thrilled.

“He saw it as now I have more time for him,” Mr. Lowe explained with a smile. “And I do.”

Fortunately, his insurance with Argus covered almost all the medical expenses. “That is one thing Bermudians are blessed with, good insurance,” he said.

“I never once felt my job was in jeopardy,” he added. On the contrary, the well-wishes flooded in - from both co-workers and guests. “These guys (Fairmont) have been in my corner totally, without a doubt.”

One couple in particular - a Mr. and Mrs. Philips - have been visiting the Island once or twice on an annual basis, and when they heard their favourite doorman was in a hospital in Boston, they tracked him down.

“The phone rang and my girlfriend said, it's for you,” Mr. Lowe said. “I picked up and Mr. Philips said, ‘Good morning, is this the executive offices of Mr. Corey Lowe?” You never know who's thinking of you ... All those prayers, they worked, I tell you.

“I can't ask for anything better. They (the Fairmont) sent gifts, they were understanding about time off.

“Now I have to give them 110 percent - as much as the nurses gave me.”

Of his fianc?e, he said: “She's been a rock, solid rock, I'm telling you. She's seen me be like an old man. Now she's seen a total change, I feel 20 again.

“My face starting clearing up, the whites in my eyes came back. It was like my gutters were clogged up and now there's a fresh water stream.

“I hadn't urinated in six years,” he added. Though he was scared there would be some burning, “it was lovely”.

He admitted it is similar to being in remission with cancer, “when you're wondering, when is it going to come back,” but Mr. Lowe feels great. “I couldn't ask for more.

“I have all my faith in the Lord, and then the doctor (kidney specialist Dr. Wendy Outerbridge, his nephrologist).

Friday was his first day back on the job at the Hamilton Princess.

“I feel wonderful,” he said. “I mean, I feel like it's my first day on the job,” he added, rubbing his ankles. “But it feels great to be exercising my personality again. It's great to be back.”

“To all those on dialysis, and about to start, the best advice I have is to stick to your medications. Restrict fluids as much as possible ... Follow the routine religiously and always have faith.

“It's not like we're out in the cold,” he added. “People are getting called up (for transplants), it seems like every five months someone's getting a kidney transplants.”

Many older patients with kidney failure are reluctant to leave dialysis, a method which has worked so far for them, he said.

“I say, take advantage,” he said. “Dialysis was like a tunnel, but the transplant was a light.

“I saw the light and it was bright. It blinded me.”