Film profiles former city man's search for kidney donor

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Film profiles former city man's search for kidney donor

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - A documentary about an indie rock-band musician with Michigan City ties debuts at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 29, in Bloomington, Ind.

"D Tour" focuses on Patrick Spurgeon's search for a living kidney donor while undergoing daily dialysis and touring with the indie pop band "Rogue Wave." Spurgeon, 41, is the son of Jane Daley, the La Porte Convention & Visitors Bureau community relations manager. He attended Coolspring Elementary School and graduated from Rogers High School in 1985.

Daley said her son was born with one kidney, but it wasn't discovered until he was in grade school. Spurgeon got his first kidney transplant in 1993. In 2006, just as he was hitting his stride as a musician and performing with Rogue Wave all over the world, the kidney started to fail.

"These transplants are not forever," Daley said. "The first one was a cadaver kidney, and (this) search was for a live donor because it's more viable."

Daley related the successful outcome.

"We got a call from Pat in early January at home in the middle of the night," Daley said.

A 19-year-old man had been killed by a hit-and-run driver and, in a strange twist of fate, the young man signed an organ donor card the day before the accident.

"The doctors said it was a more perfect match than a twin brother's," Daley said.

According to film director Jim Granato, the documentary addresses health-care system issues such as affordable insurance and organ donation. Granato said he and Spurgeon have been friends for more than 10 years, but he didn't know much about his friend's health history.

"He never really talked about it," Granato said. "He carried on with his life, pursuing goals like the rest of us. I never thought about how Pat would have to go through that again ... and again ... for the rest of his life."

Granato said Spurgeon felt the urge to share his story and asked if he wanted to film the experience of searching for the kidney and getting a transplant.

"The 'hook' was that he was going to stay with Rogue Wave and continue touring and performing on dialysis," Granato said. "Pat wanted to show others who may be in the same predicament that you can go through this and live your life the way you want to."

Granato, who is based in San Francisco, worked on "D Tour" for three years.

"While the film focuses on Pat and his story, the bigger story we're trying to get out is about organ donation."

Granato said a brand new song called "Positive Hero Worship" by Rogue Wave with Japonize Elephants, is available as a free download to anyone who donates to the film at www.dtourmovie.com.

Granato said "D tour" will be featured at the Sarasota Film Festival in April and the San Francisco International Film Festival in May. Both Granato and Spurgeon will attending the Bloomington premiere.

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

Facts About Organ Donation and Transplants
• 18 people die daily waiting for a transplant.

• Nearly 100,000 individuals are waiting for a transplant.

• Children under 18 make up about 20 percent of the waiting list.

• Kidneys are the most needed, followed by livers and hearts.

• Each month, about 500,000 U.S. residents are put on the waiting list.

• Each year, about 15,000 people die who are medically suited organ donors, but only a third of them become organ donors.

• Some 55 Americans receive organ transplants each day.

From the Donate Life America Web site

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