Atonement for past transgressions can take many forms.

December 10, 2011, 01:00 PM
Park Rapids man donates kidney
Atonement for past transgressions can take many forms. For Park Rapids resident Paul Schultz, it was life saving.
By: Sarah Smith, Park Rapids Enterprise

Atonement for past transgressions can take many forms.

For Park Rapids resident Paul Schultz, it was life saving.

It began with a hug on April 10, preceded by seven years of sobriety after a 27-year battle with drug and alcohol abuse.

On that fateful day, Schultz, 46, had attended a state Narcotics Anonymous convention.

At the door, Becky Rodriguez gave him a warm hug and welcomed him. The two became friends on Facebook. At the convention they talked for hours.

Becky, from St. Paul, was overflowing with thoughts about what they could do for others to help them in their recovery. She’d been sober 12 years. Both consented to have their names used in this story.

“She hugged me and told me she loved me and she was glad I was there,” Schultz recalled of the momentous meeting.

In July, Schultz discovered Rodriguez was on dialysis and needed a kidney transplant to stay alive. She’d never mentioned it in the four months they’d exchanged thoughts. It was all about what they could do for others, Schultz said.

“Some people in the groups I go to are selfless people and I wanted to be like them,” Schultz said Thursday from his hospital room at Hennepin County Medical Center’s transplant wing.

“From the moment I made the decision to get tested – I didn’t even know what blood type I was – I just knew I’d be the donor,” Schultz said.

Tuesday the pair underwent the transplant surgery, Schultz donating a kidney to his new friend. By Thursday Schultz, although still in some pain, was planning on leaving the hospital by the weekend.

Facebook carried live updates of their surgery for friends and family who could not be there.

Becky is just down the hall. He shuffled down to her room to put her on the phone. She was too tired to talk, but he said his kidney mate was “doing good.”

She did change her middle name to “I got a new kidney.”

Schultz works at Team Industries in Audubon. It will be awhile before he’s medically cleared to return to work, he said.

He spent his life doing odd jobs, carpentry, driving a tow truck and battling his demons, he acknowledged.

Friends have set up a recovery fund at State Bank of Park Rapids for both Paul and Becky. He has no long- or short-term disability insurance while he convalesces.

“A lot of people are in our recovery family,” he said. Friends drove him to the hospital and “have been popping in and out,” he said.

Terri Conser, a former area resident and longtime friend of Schultz’s, said it’s not out of character for him to perform a selfless act.

“What an inspiration, truly, for someone,” she said. “What a hug can do to change somebody else’s life. He saved her life.

“We hope with every story about transplants that more people might consider this life-saving and life-improving gift,” said HCMC media specialist Christine Hill.

Tags: news, kidney, transplant, local

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