Sevier County teen celebrates going back to school after life-saving kidney transplant

ANNABELLA, Sevier County — One family from Annabella knows the commute to Salt Lake City all too well. It’s where they spent several scary visits to the hospital for their sick son.

“I tried to go back to swim practice, then I started blacking out,” Henry Coulter said.

Henry Coulter is happiest in the water, but an illness he had as an infant left him with kidneys that could never recover.

His father, Matthew Coulter, donated his kidney to his son years ago.

“I knew that Henry would need multiple transplants because transplanted kidneys slowly fail over time,” Alisa Coulter, Henry’s mother, said.

She told KSL TV as Henry Coulter grew up, he lost kidney function, and most of his energy.

“I would wake up Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4 a.m. to go to Salt Lake City,” Henry Coulter said. “My dad drove while I slept. We would go to the Primary Children’s dialysis center, and I would have a three-and-a-half-hour dialysis session.”

The teenager was drained from his sessions, the drive, and missing his normal life.

“When he wasn’t able to swim last year, it just devastated a lot of these kids,” Staci Kling, his swim coach, said.

A collaboration between the Intermountain Sevier Valley and Primary Children’s teams allowed him to get dialysis closer to him in Richfield.

“I was able to go to Prom and hang out with friends,” Henry Coulter said.

After failing to find any matches for a kidney donor, he learned there was one out there. He just didn’t know who.

Retired Army National Guard Major Monica Leger knew she wanted to donate one of her kidneys.

“For months, I was just getting every test known to man on my body,” Leger said.

When the Coulter’s got her number and reached out to her, there was a mutual excitement about the match.

“She told me I had a good kidney,” Henry Coulter said. “It had been to boot camp twice, completed a marathon, and been all around the world.”

Leger got a tattoo to mark the life-changing event, with an H for Henry at the center.

“I told Henry that I’m so happy that now he has a choice for some of these big life decisions,” Leger said.

Thanks to Leger, Henry Coulter is back in the pool with his new kidney. He said he has some catching up to do.

“Working out the cobwebs right now, but he’s reenergized to be with his teammates,” Kling said.

One stroke at a time, he’s getting back to normal.

“I just love the water so much,” he said.

Swim practice doesn’t start back up until October, and Henry Coulter said he planned on building his strength back up in the meantime.