Hey everyone, it's Ms. Vinnie. Recently, we celebrated Black History Month with the incredible story of a living legend. Chef Oliver Hale of Grand Rapids, Michigan is a two-time kidney transplant recipient, an award-winning chef, and He hosted his very own cooking show, Chef O's Place, sharing his delicious, healthy lifestyle recipes. Chef O is also an athlete who has won multiple awards, traveling around the world, participating in the Transplant Games of America.
Here is an excerpt from this highly anticipated interview
that I want to share with you!
Chef O: I've been waiting to meet you and join you on your show. This is this is an honor! Oh, thank you. I'm so glad to be here.
MissVinnie: Thank you for being here. I heard so much about you and I was like, I have got to get this living legend on our show for Black History Month and here you are!
Chef O: Thank you.
MissVinnie: God is good!
Chef O: All the time!
MissVinnie: Okay. Let's talk about transplant life. But first, you know, like I said, you are truly a living legend, sir. And you know, you've been a Black man a long time! And this is Black History month in America. You've been through segregation, civil rights, all of the milestones that have been accomplished in Black America. So, I just wanted to hear from you. What is your opinion about the current state of Black America TODAY?
Chef O: Right now, I have to honestly tell you, I'm kind of scared. Uh, the way things are going. Seem like a lot of our, well, I'm not going to say a lot of them, but some of our youth are not understanding what (not only me,) but my parents and my grandparents went through to make things the way they were, the way they are now, because when I started in the restaurant business, I worked in the kitchen and could not go into the dining room of the restaurant that I worked in!
Miss Vinnie: Wow.
Chef O: Now, I'm in the kitchen washing dishes, but I couldn't go past that door and so, I mean, my parents didn't get a chance to go out to restaurants to eat! I watched my mom as she got up in the morning to go pick cotton, to earn money for us to make things possible for myself and my other five siblings to enjoy life.
The young ones ask me “Oh, I want to be like you Chef. Oh, how can I get in?”
I say, I had to crawl a lot before I could walk in this industry. I went to do a party once, and it was with two other white people and the lady came out the house and went to the first white guy said, “Oh, Chef O, I'm so glad that you're here. I've read all about you and your awards and we're looking forward to having your food tonight!”. And the white guy said, “I'm not Chef O! He is!" (Laughter)
There's a few people who really do not understand what we had to go through. I mean, I lived in a very segregated city where, you know, a lot of things I couldn't do when I was growing up until when I turned 18, I moved away from there and try to better myself.
MissVinnie: And where did you grow up, sir?
Chef O: I grew up in a little town east of Dallas called Greenville, Texas. It’s just things we had to go through; you couldn't do this, couldn't do that. We didn't integrate till 1968; and that whole first four months of nothing but riots and fights and stuff.
So I didn't learn nothing my freshman year of high school because that's what it was; but that's what we went through.
Chef O: Kids today do not understand that, and then they just think everything is coming to them the way it is, you know, they have the opportunity to make changes to move forward. If they just do it, just do it. Don't, oh, we can't do it because the man is holding us back. We can't do this. No, no, no, no. You have a great opportunity.
I just, sometimes I think what would happen if I was born now and doing the things I would probably be much, much farther in my career than what I did because I was held back.
I went to a couple of cooking competitions, but I wasn't allowed to do the cooking competitions because, you know, it's the afro man.
MissVinnie: Because of segregation you weren't allowed?
Chef O: Yeah. So it just, you know, I broke through and I did it and Here I am!
MissVinnie: And here you are. And that's why I think it's so important that we give living legends like you the opportunity to share your story because you have first hand knowledge of the way things used to be compared to the way they are now, and your wisdom is priceless.
Chef O: I look at my friend Senator Lewis and a bunch of other Senators who have passed on and what they went through. And I said, I went through the same thing and people should appreciate what doors they open! Yeah, one of one of my favorites is Rev. Jesse Jackson; and he always said “When you die, leave something behind so people can see what you did and you can be appreciated.”
And I'm doing that in both worlds, the cooking world and the transplant world. Because I mean, 40 years ago when I was on dialysis trying to talk about organ donation, I felt like I robbed a store! When I would go and say we need to talk about organ donation, people would say “I'm not giving up my kidney!. I'm not giving my organs!”
MissVinnie: Well, let's talk about that. Let's talk about your personal connection to transplant, because you are a two- time kidney transplant recipient, right?
Chef O: Yes, I lost my kidney. I was an up and coming, tennis player over in Toledo, Ohio and I was making my way up to the ranks! I won five United States Tennis Association Tournaments. I was looking to move up some more, play more tournaments in exactly two weeks from the time I won that tournament, I was laying flat on my back with kidney failure.
MissVinnie: You didn't have any other symptoms before that you just it just came upon you suddenly?
Chef O: I had high blood pressure and didn't know it.
I had went to the doctor for years, but the last 3 years of doing that time. I thought I was doing good. Running around on the tennis court for 5 hours a day. Five, six days a week. You know, I thought, I'm good, but I played this tournament and the doctor told me I should have known when I didn't break a sweat at 94 degrees outside! I'm on the tennis court and did not break a sweat. He said, you should have known something was wrong with your body. And my kidney was deteriorating at that point.
And so he said, “Did you notice any urine output?” I said, “No, I don't measure my urine when I get up in the morning!” (Laughter)
MissVinnie: That's not funny, but that's very serious, though.
Chef O: Yeah, I mean, you get up and go to the bathroom, you just go. So, with that, I went on dialysis, right away.
MissVinnie: What year was that, sir? What year did you go on dialysis?
Chef O: It was 1983, it was July of 1983, I went on dialysis, and that's when I started getting involved with the National Kidney Foundation, there in Ohio.
And exactly a year later, that’s when I got the phone call, I'll never forget this, Miss Vinnie. I was sitting watching the American Music Award in 1985, and Lionel Richie was cleaning house with, what was that, Dancing on the Ceiling? When he was doing that, he kept saying, Outrageous! And I got the phone call at 11:10 pm that night.
MissVinnie: So, you were on dialysis for two years?
Chef O: Not even 2 years. I'd say a year and a half. A year and a half, and back then, that was rare. That was rare to be on dialysis for such a short time.
MissVinnie: It still is. I have some friends who were on dialysis for 10 years.
Chef O: 10 years? I know some that was on 22 years. But, I got the transplant January 29th. 1985 and I hit the ground running!
I wrote the (donor) family in March of that year, 1985, to show my appreciation, just to let them know how I felt about receiving this life saving kidney. Well, I never heard it back. Okay. And my goal was to pay it forward, start doing things to help people. And I call it helping those who cannot help themselves. It's something
MissVinnie: It’s something about being a transplant that make you want to help people, ain't it?
Chef O: Yeah, well, somebody helped me.
MissVinnie: Yeah, that's how I felt about it too.
Chef O: And I said, so I, you know, I volunteer, I see people need something, I say, can I help you do that? They say, oh, why are you doing this? And I say, not just because it's in my heart, it's God willing. And because I am standing here talking to you, but somebody lost a loved one, loved one. And that loved one, I have their organ inside of me. So, from that point on, I started volunteering, doing things.
One thing led to another. My life as a transplant recipient, I sit on committee boards. I wind up making changes. I was on the committee that helped set up the pairing, uh, situation.
MissVinnie: You're talking about the kidney exchange program?
Chef O: Yes! The Kidney Exchange Program. I was on the committee when that first came about and we spent about two years trying toput it together, and now it is a major part in organ donation! Where if you want to give someone a kidney, but it doesn't matter whether you are a match or not, but you still want to give it, they will find a compatible recipient. And that is so Heartwarming.
Heartwarming, Indeed!
My interview with the living legend Chef Oliver Hale was definitely one of my favorites! He continued to talk about his passion for creating healthy, scrumptious gourmet meals, his award-winning television cooking show "Chef O's Place" and his continuous career as an award-winning athlete who has traveled around the globe participating in the world famous Transplant Games of America.
To watch The Incredible Story of Chef Oliver Hale in its entirety, please visit our YouTube channel!
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