WEST FARGO—Many people are asking for a new laptop or maybe a PS5 this holiday season, but one West Fargo man is asking for something money can't buy: a kidney.
In 2015, Gerry Hedberg had a heart transplant now, just five years later Gerry is in desperate need of a kidney.
"It's just one problem after another, but it's still going, so I'm still going one day at a time," Hedberg said. He's taking organ anti-rejection medication for a heart transplant, which is causing his kidney to fail.
A normal kidney reading functions at level of around fifty, but his just 6.
"I'm afraid with the way my kidneys are, I don't know how long I got left," Hedberg said. He is on dialysis four times a week with each dialysis appointment taking upwards of 5 hours. Plus, he is at a high risk for COVID-19.
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Hedberg is hoping for a Christmas miracle in the form of a living kidney donor. He wants to see his grandkids grow up, he said. He posted his plea on Facebook, which already has netted some results.
Three people have stepped forward to get tested for Hedberg already. "One called me personally and the other two texted me over it and said that they were starting this week on the blood work."
With over 93,000 people on the kidney transplant waiting list, the more people getting tested the better. Once he finds a donor, Hedberg moves to the top of the waiting list. That person will need to get tested and have blood work done, all at no cost to them.
They don't need to be a match to Hedberg, they could be a match for someone else which would still bring Gerry to the top of the list.
"I start crying over it to think that people would donate to you and stuff, I get really tore up about it," he said. "I never thought I'd get people to do that."
Anyone interested in being Hedberg's Christmas miracle should call the University of Minnesota Medical Center Living Donor hotline at 612-625-7010 or reach out to Gerry Hedberg on Facebook.
