Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- A Mapleton boy, Collin Chournos, found a kidney donor in his neighbor, Jesse Craig.
- Collin, on dialysis, will receive the kidney after 16 years with one failing kidney.
- Craig, who donated after feeling prompted, will take eight weeks off work for his own recovery.
MAPLETON — For 16 years, a Utah boy lived with just one kidney working at far below normal levels.
When a kidney donation became his only option, he found a match right in his backyard.
Collin Chournos spends three hours, three days a week at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City hooked up to a dialysis machine. But soon, he will get a kidney donation from a neighbor who says he felt a prompting to get tested.
"It's pretty exciting, finally coming to head," Collin says. His family has been anticipating this moment since before he was born.
"I had two kidneys. The first one died when I was born. The second was working 33%." For years, his determined parents and a team of doctors kept that kidney working, "getting 16 years off a kidney, working 30%. It's pretty crazy."
But over the last 12 months, that kidney has finally failed. "Now I'm on HD, which is hemodialysis, and that filters my blood through a port near my heart."
Collin has been on the transplant list for years, but now a donor has been found at the perfect time.
Jesse Craig lives right behind Collin with his wife and six children. Both families moved into their Mapleton neighborhood around the same time six years ago and became close through school activities and walks around the block.
"I feel like I was prompted to go get tested," said Craig. "My kidney was meant for Collin at this point in time."
Craig is a physical therapist and will need to take about eight weeks off of work to recover from the surgery, but says he's never second-guessed this decision. "I feel God led us to each other, to give Collin an opportunity to do the things that he's supposed to do in his life that he wouldn't be able to do, without having, having a healthy kidney."
Recovery will take about a year, but already Collin is ready to get back to volleyball and soccer. "I'm looking forward to definitely playing sports again. It's going to be exciting." He's also got his sights set on a long career helping kids just like him; "Since I was like, 7, I wanted to be a nephrologist."
A kidney doctor.
While some of the surgeries are covered by insurance, both Collin and Craig will incur significant medical expenses to make this transplant happen.
More than 100,000 people are on the transplant list across the country awaiting an organ donation; more than 80% of those are kidney donations just like Collin. You can get tested by signing up with the Health Resources and Services Administration or speaking with your primary care physician.
*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
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Sarah Martin
