Hero Found: Kidney Transplant Set After Grandfather's Old-School Plea

(CBS) -- It's been a year since we told you about a man's unusual effort to save the life of his grandson.

He posted a message on his pickup truck, seeking a kidney donor.

CBS 2's Jim Williams reports his grandson will have the transplant surgery Tuesday night.

In Marseilles, Illinois, they're cutting the celebratory cake and moving out all the medical supplies we saw a year ago.

Tuesday night at St Francis Hospital in Peoria, 26-year-old Matt Hays will get a new kidney.

"I feel really good. I'm really excited about tomorrow," he says.

It's the culmination of his family and friends' massive social media campaign to find a kidney donor -- and an old-fashioned appeal from Matt's devoted grandfather, Charlie.

A year ago we first saw Charlie's message on the pickup: "Hero wanted."

Hero found – a living donor.

"All we know if they're from the Midwest and we want to thank them very much," Matt's mother, Leslie, says.

When Matt was three, she donated her kidney to keep her son alive. It's that kidney, now failing, that will be removed Tuesday.

There is joy, but Matt's granddad is cautious. He's not taking the sign off his truck just yet.

"We're going to wait till after Tuesday," he says.