Life Connected: Kidney Recipient Becomes Donor

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Life Connected: Kidney Recipient Becomes Donor
Chad Eaton's aunt donated the kidney he desperately needed for a transplant. Weeks later, the high schooler was donating toys to kidney patients like him
By Jared Kiemeney |  Tuesday, May 15, 2012  |  Updated 11:16 PM PDTView

Chad Eaton's aunt donated the kidney he desperately needed for a transplant. Just weeks later the 18 year old was donating toys to kidney patients just like him. Fred Roggin reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on May 15, 2012.


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Grueling hours of kidney treatment can wear down the spirit, not to mention the body. But thanks to a former patient, young kidney patients at DaVita Dialysis Center in Century City wear smiles. Smiles that, at least momentarily, eclipse the medical issues that have brought them together.

Chad Eaton, 18, is forever connected with the young patients he’s visiting, because for 18 years, he’s known their struggles, their pains, and their fears because he too has battled kidney disease.

Chad was born with two defective kidneys. Doctors removed one when he was 18 months old, telling his parents he’d eventually need a transplant.

Surviving with one poorly functioning kidney was often difficult for Chad, sapping him of the energy that came so naturally for his peers.

But it wasn’t just difficult for Chad. His parents, Jim and Julie Eaton, dealt with the hardships of the disease: the doctor visits, the medications, the stress. It took a toll on all of them.

“It’s a strain on everyone in the family,” Chad’s father Jim said as he fought back tears. “You have an underlying pressure and stress and you don’t always realize it’s there. But in the back of our mind we always knew it was going to be okay, that he was going to be okay.”

Yet their son was more than okay on the baseball diamond. A promising pitcher at Campbell Hall High School in North Hollywood, Chad routinely stared down, and mowed down, opposing hitters.

But after his junior season, Chad’s energy began to wane severely.

Doctors told Chad he needed to go on dialysis so for ten hours every night Chad hooked himself up to a dialysis machine, hoping the treatment would help his rapidly weakening kidney.

“I definitely was frustrated,” Chad said. “Especially during baseball. Junior year I got really tired, everything came falling down.”

His mom Julie could hardly handle what her son was going through.

“It was the worst. I have never yelled at doctors until they put my son on dialysis. I lost it. I never cried in front of him. I would wait, say, ‘Good night, I love you,’ but I would cry and cry every night,” she said.

Tears were common for Chad, too.

“Your whole life falling down on you gets so depressing at times,” he said. “I got so sad at points, I just couldn’t deal with things but I realized that one day I’m going to get a transplant and everything’s going to be better.”

Four games into his senior year, Chad’s season came to an abrupt end. Doctors told him the time had come for a transplant.

On March 10, Chad took one last walk to the mound, pitching the final game of his prep career, turning in one of the best games of his life. He struck out six and came one batter short of pitching a complete game.

Chad walked off the field to a standing ovation.

Two days later he was at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, awaiting a kidney he’d been promised as a child. His aunt, Susan Launer, said she made a vow to Chad when he was a baby.

“I said, ‘Hey kiddo, I’ll give you one of my kidneys,’” she said. “I didn’t really think I was going to and then fast forward 15 years later, yeah, there it is.”

Days before his 18th birthday, Chad was wheeled into an operating room. After several hours of transplant surgery, Chad’s doctors proclaimed the operation a success.

Within a few days, Chad took the first steps of his new life and he had his aunt to thank.

“She is the person who has given me a new life,” Chad said. “She is the person who is making me stronger, making me healthier, making me a better person.”

Throughout his trials and countless hours of treatment, Chad often wondered when things would get better. It was during those moments that Chad decided he could make things better – not for himself, but for others going through the same trying experience.

Chad started his own nonprofit, Recycle For A Charity, soliciting electronics, toys and donations for young kidney patients.

“I just want to give hope to other kids out there going through the same situation. I know they’re down sometimes and I want them to know things can be better,” he said.

The day before his transplant surgery, while he could have been fretting about going under the knife, Chad worked diligently on his charity’s Web site.

A mere seven weeks after transplant surgery, Chad and his mother piled toys and gifts into the family car. Then they made a familiar drive to the dialysis center where he began his own kidney therapy.

Chad said he wanted to give the kids hope, to make them happy. He said that’s all he ever wanted when he was on dialysis. He knew how to help because he’s been in their shoes and now, on a path to a better life, he wanted to make their lives a little better.

The moment he walked into the treatment room, patients and parents wore smiles rarely seen in such conditions. Chad spent time with each of the patients, passing out pillows, video games, headphones and baseballs.

“My favorite part of the day was making jokes with the kids,” he said. “Them cracking jokes makes me happy because I know they’re happy.”

Jennifer Banh, Child Life Specialist at DaVita Dialysis, remembered her former patient and was thrilled to see him return.

“To see Chad come back to our unit, it makes me happy to know he looks good and is going to have a long and healthy life.”

His visit made a strong impression on the patients as well.

“I actually look up to him,” said 17-year-old Giovanni Encalada Jr. “When I first started on dialysis, it was pretty hard on me. When I see him come tell me it’s all right, I finally realize it’s something that can pass over.”

As much as the patients’ spirits were lifted, the person in the room with the biggest smile was Chad’s mom Julie.

“I haven’t seen him smile since before his transplant. Seeing him smile with all these kids, he’s a new kid. He has a kidney and I think he made a bunch of new friends today,” she said.

Hugs and handshakes made that reality clear. Theirs are lives connected on a level few others could ever know.

“That’s why I started the charity,” Chad said. “I know what they’ve been through and when I see them happy it makes me happy. I just want to give them hope that things are going to be better.”

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Life-Connected-Kidney-Recipient-Becomes-Donor-151648675.html