Transplant Unites Families

It`s a story that really drives home the need for organ donors -- one family`s loss, another`s joy, and a third family`s agonizing wait. KNWA`s Alexa Hamblin has more. They are two families who otherwise may have never met, but after both went through some tough times, their paths crossed because of a life-saving transplant, and they are now like one big family. Still, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans losing patience and losing hope as they, too, wait on a second chance at life. It`s been just over a year since Doug and Lynn Peterson burried their 24-year-old son, Rick. A heart ailment claimed his life, but as terrible as it was to lose their son, the Petersons found some peace knowing they were giving four-year-old Kolby Eiland a chance at a normal life. "I know if my son could be looking down on us, he would just be elated," says Rick`s mother, Lynn Peterson. Thursday, thirteen months after Kolby received Rick`s kidney, and on Kolby`s 6th birthday, the families met for the first time in Fayetteville. The meeting was extremely emotional, and one neither family will ever forget. "On February 3rd of last year, we were rejoicing -- it`s hard to say this without crying because -- It was a terrible time for somebody else," Stephanie Eiland remembers, choking back tears. The Peterson family and the Eilands both agreed to meet and the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency made it happen. They shared memories of the young man who couldn`t be here today, and shared tears and smiles watching little Kolby living life to the fullest. "I`m just overjoyed, I think we all have such a sense of happiness and joy and maybe a little sadness, but mostly happiness," explains Lynn Peterson. Kolby had a kidney disease that kept him from eating, drinking and doing just about everything a child his age would normally enjoy, but Rick Peterson`s kidney has given him a whole new life. On his 6th birthday he couldn`t be more full of life as he talks about where he`s celebrating the big day. "Chuck E. Cheese! Wahooo! Thumbs up," Kolby says, cheering. Both families say more people need to be aware of the importance of organ donation. David Swanson undergoes dialysis three days a week for four or five hours at a time, because his kidney is failing. "It could be a matter of months, or three to five years to find a match," Swanson says. He`s one of more than 100,000 people in the United States waiting for organs right now. Kolby and David have never met, but Kolby has something he wants David to know. "I wish that he will find a donor soon, and if he doesn`t find one, I`ll find one for him," Kolby Eiland says. The Eilands waited two years for Kolby`s kidney. For more information on becoming a donor you can call ARORA at 866-660-5433. For KNWA... Northwest Arkansas News... I`m Alexa Hamblin.