A young man gave his kidney to his dad as a Father’s Day gift. Read more on the amazing story below!
Nick Kaczorowski, 27, donated his kidney to his 55 year old father named Lance. Lance has end-stage renal disease, and in November he learned that his kidney function had shut down completely. The news of his diagnosis left him with only three options if he wanted to live, which was undergo dialysis treatments three times a week, wait for a cadaver kidney transplant, or find a match from a living donor.
Lance wouldn’t need surgery if he choice dialysis, but having a kidney donation would mean a better quality of life. But the wait for a cadaver kidney could take up to five years. Nick said, “I couldn’t imagine going through life without him here, and doing this hopefully means I don’t have to worry about that anytime soon.” His mother Kathy, was hesitant for Nick to undergo the surgery. She said, “My initial reaction was ‘No, he’s my little baby boy. No, don’t cut him open…But at the same time I didn’t want to lose my husband. He’s been my best friend for 28 years.” Because he was his biological son, he already has a 50% match of his father’s DNA, and sharing the same blood type gave them the green light to pursue months of further testing, which proved him to be a suitable match for the kidney transplant.
Nick and his father now share identical kidneys. His father says, “Sometimes you have to accept a gift for the other person to receive the blessings from that giving. After years of giving to your kids, sometimes they get an opportunity to turn around and give back. “As long as I can keep myself healthy — avoiding high blood pressure and diabetes — I shouldn’t have any complications with my remaining kidney,” he said. His parents are still very concerned about Nick’s recovery. Nick gave his father the larger of his two kidneys so his dad receives as much kidney function as possible. Nick said that he is not sure about what his dad will get for Christmas, but he did say that It’s going to be hard to top Father’s Day.
Amazing!
