Cottage Grove Man Hopes To Repay Fellow Umpire's Life-Saving Sacrifice

COTTAGE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) -- For months a Cottage Grove man's health was declining and when he made a plea for help, it came faster than expected.

Dave Watkins was in kidney failure and in desperate need of a transplant.

He never thought it would be a fellow umpire, the son of a man he has worked with for years, that would give him a second chance at life.

WCCO's Reg Chapman has more on their story and the effort Watkins is undertaking to help the man who is looking out for him.

"Faith, you got to live on faith," said Watkins.

Watkins says it is his belief in a higher power that got him through some dark days battling kidney failure.

"Since 2009, I woke up one morning and my feet were this big," Watkins said.

"I'm just blessed beyond, the good Lord and this man right here -- I met his dad first."

Watkins is an umpire and was working the state baseball championship when he told a friend that he was sick.

Two weeks later at another tournament, Watkins says he met his angel.

"I went to walk to the field and he stopped me and he started talking and he introduced himself and I'm like, 'Did you meet my dad the other week?' and we started talking," said Nate Gabrelcik.

"It was just meant to be," Watkins said.

Gabrelcik took days off work without pay to see if he was a match, and when word came down that he was, he knew what he had to do.

"I have a twin sister and we were both born three months premature. I shouldn't even be here. We were 2 pounds 6 ounces at birth, we had epilepsy, we had grand mal seizures for two, three hours at a time. We could both be in wheelchairs, we could not be able to speak. There's so much -- we turned out so great so it almost seems like the right thing to do to just pay it back," Gabrelcik said.

Watkins started a GoFundMe site to help the man who is giving him the gift of life.

"He works for HOM Furniture and he delivers and they don't have a short term disability. Well he's got bills and he comes first because he's giving me a second chance at life," Watkins said.

On April 4, both their lives will change. It's Watkins' hope Gabrelcik's willingness to help is not a financial setback.

Gabrelcik will be off work 10 weeks after the transplant and will not be able to lift more than 5 pounds.

It's Watkins' hope people will help the man who is helping him. If you'd like to donate, click here.