Fort Myers Radio: B.J. Odom Gets New Kidney

BJ Odom

Fort Myers radio personality B.J. Odom looks forward to performing more stand-up comedy after getting a new kidney this week.

"I definitely feel relieved," the Fort Myers man told The News-Press from his hospital room Wednesday. "I'm glad that it's in there!"

Odom had been on a waiting list since April.

Then he got the news that a harvested kidney was on ice and flying into Florida from out of state. Doctors at Tampa General Hospital transplanted the new organ during a three-hour surgery on Monday.

Now Odom has to wait and see if the new kidney takes. He's still on dialysis until it starts working — a process that can take several days to one or two weeks.

Odom, 59, has been making Southwest Florida laugh for decades, both as a stand-up comedian and as a radio personality. He still performs stand-up at local clubs and elsewhere in southern Florida about twice a month. Plus he occasionally fills in as a deejay for radio station WMYR 1410 AM / 106.7 T-FM Twang 106-7.

But Odom says his constant need for dialysis has kept him from full-time employment and left him on government disability. He's been gets dialysis three days a week for four hours per session.

Odom's kidney failure resulted from a heart transplant 11 years ago and the anti-rejection drugs he had to take afterward.