Santa's helper receives new kidney thanks to voucher program, friend's donation
When some students from Humboldt High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, got to their field trip at Highland Popcorn, Santa unexpectedly popped in. What unfolded couldn't be more surprising if you know what happened one year ago.
Dan Reed, who assists Santa as a Minnesota helper, could barely walk — his kidneys were shutting down. He had little hope of getting a transplant.
"I knew for a long time he had kidney disease. I didn't know it had gotten that bad," Steve Eckhouse, Reed's longtime friend.
Time was not on Reed's side. It seemed last Christmas may have been the last he would be able to assist Mr. Claus.
"I felt like I wanted to find out more to find out if I could possibly be a donor," Eckhouse said.
Of all the friends who tried to donate, Eckhouse was the only match — not for Reed, but for someone else in the registry.
"That created a voucher I could create for Dan, so he could get a kidney for him," Eckhouse said.
The voucher program allowed Reed to move up on the transplant list.
"Mayo called me and said, 'You better sit down.' Two weeks after I got on the list, she goes, 'We have one for you,'" Reed said.
Reed made it through his surgery and Eckhouse would endure pain, too.
"It was a little more difficult than I originally thought," Eckhouse said. "It was five hours. My kidneys were each 10 pounds. They are supposed to be a lot smaller than that."
Still, Eckhouse says donating a kidney really wasn't that bad and encourages others to go to the Kidney Registry to learn more.
Since his surgery and arrival back home in June, Reed says he has walked over 350 miles.