Colorado Kidney Donor, Recipient Meet for First Time

AURORA, Colo. — A New Jersey man needed a kidney transplant. A Colorado man answered the call. But for more than three years after the transplant, they never met — until this week, when Ed Silberman flew to Denver and shared an emotional face-to-face conversation with Dave Heal about their experience as an organ donor and recipient.

“It’s very strange to think that one of your organs is living inside another person,” Heal said. “It’s kind of a miracle to meet the person with whom you were able to start living the life that you were meant to live again.”

Adam Hillberry, Denver7

It all started in 2019 with a social media post. Silberman, an avid and otherwise healthy softball player, learned that his kidney function was deteriorating and he would need to go on peritoneal dialysis until he could get a transplant. His son-in-law, Jeremy Garson, tweeted about a sports blog looking for a donor.

Silberman said you “usually only hear negative things” on social media.

But Heal, who followed the blog and had attended the same university as Silberman’s son-in-law, saw the message.

Dave heal

“I thought, ‘I feel like the universe is sending me a signal,'” said Heal, who was already considering donating a kidney.

Although donors giving an organ to a stranger typically do not speak with the recipient, Heal remained in contact with some of Silberman’s family members throughout the process.

After nearly a year of testing and research, Heal decided to proceed with the donation. But the COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on their operation. The operations, initially planned for March 2020, were postponed until December.

“Dave sent me a picture of him in the recovery room after surgery. It was in the afternoon. My surgery was a few hours later and they flew the kidney to Philadelphia,” Silberman said.

“The kidney immediately started working,” he said.

A few months later, he was back competing in softball.

“I was back there,” he said. “My life went back to what it was.”

Silberman and his family remain grateful to Heal, whom they call their “SuperHealo.”

Dave heals

“There are 100,000 people in the United States on the waiting list for a kidney transplant, and every day seven people die waiting for a kidney,” Silberman said.

Heal helped Silberman overcome these obstacles. But he is humble in the face of sacrifice.

“My parents are hematologists,” Heal said. “I used to think about giving little pieces of my body so other people could get a transfusion or live a better life.”

Donating a kidney, “to be honest, didn’t seem that difficult,” he said.

Adam Hillberry, Denver7

Heal encourages others considering kidney donation to learn more about what it would involve through the resources of the National Kidney Foundation and the support and protections offered to living donors by Donor Shield.

“I think people should at least do the exercise that I did, which is to think about what their life is like and whether that’s a sacrifice they can make,” he said. he declares. “If you’re healthy and you have a good support network, the outcomes for people who donate their kidneys are really great. »

For Heal and Silberman, the opportunity to meet after everything they had been through was surreal and led to lots of friendly banter.

“How do you like the product?” » Heal asked.

“You mean the kidney?” » replied Silberman.

“Yeah, does it work as well for you as it does for me?”

“It works. I think I’ve gotten a little smarter. Actually.”

“What about your batting average?”

“Batting average? No, no, no, no. It didn’t help the batting average. But it helped me enjoy life the way I was again,” Silberman said.

Both Silberman and Heal are grateful to have made a connection in this way and hope their experience can inspire others to ask for help or give it, even if it’s a stranger with who you connect to online.

“For someone in my situation, using every means at your disposal to get the word out about the possibility of a living donor,” Silberman said. “It’s incredible what happened. Unbelievable.”

‘I told you I’d be moved’: Colorado kidney donor and recipient meet for the first time

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