GREENFIELD — Darry Hood has never lacked energy; his exuberant personality allowed him to balance a long career as a science teacher at Eastern Hancock High School with many gigs as a local entertainer. But several years into his retirement, he’s finding himself fatigued for the first time.
Hood is battling kidney disease, and he is hoping to get his spark back by finding a kidney donor.
“I stay tired most of the time. I’m very fortunate I’m not on dialysis yet,” he said.
Hood, now 77, was a teacher at Eastern Hancock for 42 years. He is also well-known locally for his performances as a comedy magician and as a musician with his band Dr. Rock and the Rollers.
His first sign of kidney trouble, Hood said, came when he had his first kidney stone at age 70. He was able to pass that one, but his second required surgery to remove it. Shortly after that procedure, he said, he got a call from the hospital telling him something more was wrong and he needed to go to an emergency room, where doctors treated him for a severely elevated level of potassium.
“The ironic thing was, I never felt bad the whole eight days I was there,” he said.
During that hospital stay, Hood said, doctors found 150 to 200 small kidney stones. When he was finally released from the hospital, Hood said he was overwhelmed by the knowledge the condition could have gone undetected until it was too late to treat it.
“I went to the bedroom, got on my knees, and prayed, gave thanks,” he said.
That wasn’t the end of Hood’s kidney troubles, though. He is now facing Stage 4 kidney failure, and although he does not yet require dialysis, he likely will soon. However, there is a potential fix for the condition. Doctors helped him set up a page on the National Kidney Register to look for a kidney donation that could allow him to avoid further complications.
“Right away, I had several (former) students want to donate a kidney,” Hood said.
However, the volunteers were unable to donate because of medical conditions, and Hood is still looking for a donor.
Because of a National Kidney Register “matching” program Hood’s transplant team participates in, a donor does not need to be a match for him specifically. Doctors would be able to remove a donated kidney from someone who is not a match, swap it for one that is, and transplant that kidney into Hood while the donated one goes to another patient.
Hood is hoping the connections he made over a long career in Hancock County will help him find a kidney donor.
The path that brought Hood to Eastern Hancock started when he was in high school himself, when he was set up on a date with a friend’s cousin. Hood described himself as a “goof-off” in high school, but the girl he’d been set up with, who quickly became his girlfriend, was college-bound. She showed him the catalog for the school she’d be attending in Tennessee.
“I didn’t want to lose her, so I took the catalog home and sprung it on my folks. They were just flabbergasted,” Hood recalled.
In college, Hood surprised himself and his parents by thriving. He quickly taught himself the study skills he would later pass on to his students.
“I had to study, how to take notes,” he said.
Hood and his girlfriend, Sue, today his wife of 55 years, both decided to become teachers. They were recruited by the superintendent of Eastern Hancock, where Hood would teach science for four decades. He taught driver’s education, too, and said he taught “every student in the area who wasn’t home-schooled.”
“I really loved my job at Eastern,” he said, attributing his teaching career to his wife. “If it wasn’t for her, I’d probably be running a bait shop in the middle of nowhere.”
Former EH Superintendent Dave Pfaff was starting his career as a teacher at the school corporation in 1979 when he met Hood.
“As a young teacher, if you’re smart, you find some older teachers in the building who seem to be doing it right, and Darry was one of those,” Pfaff said.
Kids loved Hood for his sense of humor, and Pfaff soon became part of one of his running jokes. After the two helped host a haunted house in the county’s recently vacated jail building, Hood took to telling people they had spent a night in jail together.
Pfaff said Hood was “a barrel of laughs” but also an extremely effective teacher who had a lifelong impact on many of his students.
“I respected the way he did his work,” Pfaff said.
The school corporation also led to his second career as a musician. He had learned to play the guitar and keyboard in college, and one of his fellow teachers asked him to put together a band to play at a school gathering. He started his first band, called Yesterday, with another teacher and the president of the school board.
That band later became Dr. Rock and the Rollers, adding other musicians and two backup singers, one of them Hood’s daughter. The band provided entertainment at many events, including charity banquets hosted by Indianapolis Colts owner Robert Irsay. It also regularly played at events at the Hancock County Public Library.
The band mostly played vintage rock ‘n’ roll covers, although Hood also wrote plenty of his own songs.
“People didn’t come to hear the original songs,” Hood said. “They came to hear the oldies.”
Gary West was in one of Hood’s science classes in eighth grade. The teacher and student quickly bonded over a shared love of music.
“He’s one of my mentors. He gave me my first gig,” West, who now lives in Nashville and performs as a Johnny Cash tribute artist, said. Hood gave him the opportunity to perform at a middle school dance. “He was a huge influence on me, and we’ve continued to be friends. I wish the world had more Darry Hoods for teachers.”
As a performer, West said, Hood is well-rounded and embodies the spirit of ‘50s and ‘60s rock music.
“He’s an entertainer’s entertainer,” West said.
Hood wasn’t sure he would ever want to retire from teaching, but he realized it might be time when a driver’s ed student mentioned that Hood had also taught a family member — a grandmother — who had fond memories of his classes.
When his family noticed he was struggling to keep up, he retired from playing with the band, too, but still makes music in his studio at home.
“That’s my getaway now,” Hood said.
Hood said he’s optimistic about his chances of finding a kidney donor, but even if he doesn’t, he feels that he’s led a blessed life.
“I’ve always told my wife, when I die, I can’t complain,” Hood said. “I’ve had such a great life. I can’t sit around and whine and moan and complain.”
To find out more about becoming a kidney donor, visit tinyurl.com/fpcjzs24.
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To find out more about becoming a kidney donor for Darry Hood or to share his story on social media, visit tinyurl.com/fpcjzs24.
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