Old friend to benefit from living organ donation

“Then one morning I woke up, again checked Facebook as we all do, and I saw that the woman I was supposed to donate a kidney to got one,” he said. She had matched with a deceased donor, whose other kidney went to the patient in the next bed. Neeson then added his name to the anonymous list.

“And then, all of a sudden I get a text message from my girlfriend, who says, well, a friend of a friend’s husband needs a kidney. I said, well find out their blood type. If I’m a match I’ll do it.”

Months later, Neeson’s girlfriend received word of the identity of the potential recipient of his kidney.

“She says, ‘Do you know a guy named Nelson Nobrega?’ I was like, honey, we went to high school with Nelson! That’s the guy that needs the kidney. I was like, I haven’t seen him in 20 years. We were friends on Facebook.”

The two went through the tests, and were found to be a match. The surgery is set for Feb. 8. Neeson said he’s prepared for the eight to twelve weeks of recovery awaiting him.

“It’s going to be a slow go,” he said. “But I’m willing to do it. Because at the end of the day, a little discomfort for me is changing Nelson’s life. He doesn’t have to go to dialysis three times a week. He’s got a family. He wants family time. And I’m fortunately able to give it back to him.”

He said his biggest initial concern was his two kids, and whether he would be able to donate to them should the need arise. But he researched his questions and found that even if either child needed a transplant, they might not be a match.

During his research, Neeson also found strength from videos made by other donors and recipients, and their underlying tone about the need to give. He’s encouraging others to look into becoming living organ donors by visiting Canadian Blood Services’ website at blood.ca.

“It’s about humanity. It’s about giving. It’s about giving to yourself, giving to others. Because we are able to do that.”

by Geoff Smith (@smithco on Twitter)

Old friend to benefit from living organ donation

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