In the fall of 2012, I read a story about a 10 year-old girl whose mother was holding up a hand-made sign on a prominent downtown street corner in our town of Bay City, Michigan to plead to passersby to help her find a kidney donor for her daughter, Jessica, who was in Stage IV renal failure and in need of dialysis till she could find a donor with a kidney that matched. Her frantic act of maternal love and human desperation was a poignant example of the struggle that some parents go through when their children suffer from organ failure and are faced with limited options to survive. Jessica’s mother was willing to do anything she could to find a donor to save her daughter’s life. 

My heart was very moved by her daughter’s challenge and I wanted to help so I contacted the University of Michigan Transplant Center to get tested to determine if I would be a suitable donor. As it turned out. I was a perfect one-in-a-100,000 match. Then, on January 11, 2013, I became a kidney donor for my now decade-long friend, Jessica Schwerin, who I later learned lived only 4 blocks from me in Bay City. Imagine the odds of that. 

After some weeks of further testing and prep, the operation was conducted and was a complete success. Then two days following our surgeries, I was able to visit Jessica. 

I was wheeled over to see her at C.S. 

Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor. 

The tiny, ghostly white little child that I had ridden with to the hospital just two days earlier was suddenly bright pink in color and healthy looking. She wasn’t pale anymore, and she was smiling in her sleep. I was deeply touched and after that overwhelming emotional experience, I somehow knew that I’d be very active in some capacity with living kidney donation efforts for the rest of my life . And Kidneys For Kids is the result of this life changing experience! You can use the DONATE button below, to support my 48 state trip, to bring forward 100 Kidney Donors for 100 Kids!