SANDERSVILLE, Ga. — Richard Knowles, a Sandersville police officer and father of four, is being remembered for his service to the community and his family following his death this month from complications tied to West Nile virus.

Brandi Knowles, his wife of six years, said her husband was diagnosed with stage five kidney disease last December and received a kidney transplant on July 25, adding doctors believe he contracted West Nile virus before the transplant, but his immunocompromised state after the surgery caused the virus to worsen drastically.

“They think he got bit by a mosquito before the transplant,” Brandi Knowles said. “You can have the virus and not even know it. His immune system was so depressed that it got worse. Most people fight it off, but he couldn’t.”

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