Quinn Schuler Reports
Tucson man finds kidney donor down the streetPosted: Jan 22, 2008 07:48 AM
For the last two years, 30 year old Jason Costell has been living in fear.
"You don't know if it's going take your life. You don't know if each Christmas you spend, if that's going to be your last Christmas," Costell said.
When Jason was a baby, doctors removed his kidney because of cancer. Everything was fine, until two years ago when his remaining kidney failed.
"You live your life as this normal person, and then all of a sudden you get sick...just in the last two years I've seen my body deteriorate," Costell said.
So he waited on a transplant list but never got the call. Then, after sharing his story in December, the phone started ringing off the hook.
"It was amazing. I mean people were calling the hospital, and trying to make appointments," Costell said.
Calls came as far away as Sierra Vista, but Jason found his perfect match, Jeff Carver, right down the street.
"My parents actually live just down the street and I was talking to my dad and he was telling me about it," Carver said.
So Carver came knocking on his door, asking what he needed to do to get tested.
"My mom was just like yanking him inside the door," Costell said.
When Jeff found out he was a match, he asked the doctors if he could be the one to deliver the news.
"He sits down on the couch next to me and he's looking at me and says, ‘What are you doing on the 29th?' I said, ‘The 29th of this month!?' I said, ‘Oh my God! Getting a kidney transplant I hope!'" Costell said.
"All I can explain is that it was meant for me to do it," Carver said.
Two lives changed forever.
"He's an extraordinary individual for doing this," Costell said.
And a life living in fear is now a life filled with hope.
The surgery is scheduled for next week.
If you'd like to learn more about being a living donor, contact UMC's transplant coordinator at 520-694-6827.
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7755357
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