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Encounter at rummage sale leads to gift of life
By Kyle Eller
The Northern Cross
Carol Spielman got more than she bargained for at a parish rummage sale in Duluth last summer: a kidney for her husband, Dan.
Dan’s kidneys were failing with polycystic kidney disease, which runs in his family, and a potential donor had fallen through. His condition was approaching the point where he would need dialysis, and attempts to put in shunts to facilitate that had failed. Carol had considered donating her own kidney, but their son also has a 50 percent chance of inheriting the disease and she wondered if she should save it for him.
Dan Spielman and Diane Foote meet up in the hospital after a kidney transplant. Foote donated a kidney to Spielman, who has polycystic kidney disease.
At the St. Mary Star of the Sea rummage sale in August, she encountered her friend and former coworker Diane Foote, who asked how Dan was doing.
When she found out, Foote immediately made an offer for a man she had never met.
“So then Carol told me what was going on during the rummage sale and I said, well, just call me with the information of who we should contact and I’ll go give it a try,” she said. “And I honestly didn’t think anything would happen with it; you know how the chances are.”
In fact, she had to actually press the offer on Carol, who didn’t want to get her hopes up after an earlier disappointment. She said she knew Foote’s character and that she’d likely follow through, but the odds of having a match seemed slim.
LINK: dioceseduluth.org/index.php?PageID=733
By Kyle Eller
The Northern Cross
Carol Spielman got more than she bargained for at a parish rummage sale in Duluth last summer: a kidney for her husband, Dan.
Dan’s kidneys were failing with polycystic kidney disease, which runs in his family, and a potential donor had fallen through. His condition was approaching the point where he would need dialysis, and attempts to put in shunts to facilitate that had failed. Carol had considered donating her own kidney, but their son also has a 50 percent chance of inheriting the disease and she wondered if she should save it for him.
Dan Spielman and Diane Foote meet up in the hospital after a kidney transplant. Foote donated a kidney to Spielman, who has polycystic kidney disease.
At the St. Mary Star of the Sea rummage sale in August, she encountered her friend and former coworker Diane Foote, who asked how Dan was doing.
When she found out, Foote immediately made an offer for a man she had never met.
“So then Carol told me what was going on during the rummage sale and I said, well, just call me with the information of who we should contact and I’ll go give it a try,” she said. “And I honestly didn’t think anything would happen with it; you know how the chances are.”
In fact, she had to actually press the offer on Carol, who didn’t want to get her hopes up after an earlier disappointment. She said she knew Foote’s character and that she’d likely follow through, but the odds of having a match seemed slim.
LINK: dioceseduluth.org/index.php?PageID=733