This week’s Human Fabric story gives me the feels.

I found out a little over a year ago that I had stage 4 kidney disease. I literally had less than 15% of my kidney function and was rapidly moving to stage 5 kidney disease, which meant that I was heading towards total kidney failure and ultimately losing my life. I didn’t know I was sick. I was completely unaware and although there were several theories as to why this was happening no-one could say for sure. It was a very aggressive decline and I was devastated.

I wasn’t prepared for that and I kind of shut down. With the help of a good friend at work and my wife, I was encouraged to pursue a live kidney donor. I was told that was my best chance. I’m an O positive blood type which is the most common type but it still means being on the donor list for 5 or 10 years, sometimes up to 15. My pride wouldn’t let me ask for a kidney from anyone so my friend and my wife took over my Facebook page and sent it out to the world that I was in need of a donor. I was very fortunate there were people who were willing to come to my rescue. There were many requests to be a donor that came through the Mayo clinic and within a few months several people had been tested.

We found a donor who met all of the markers and she was someone who I actually went to high school with and knew.

I couldn’t understand why someone would do that for me. Two days after surgery she told me a story…

Visit the Facebook site to read the rest of the story.