The kidney Dave Weber received from his mother 22 years before was wearing out.

Saturday, March 30, 2002

The kidney Dave Weber received from his mother 22 years before was wearing out.

The Albert Lea man’s wife, Robin, didn’t have a compatible blood type, so she wasn’t a suitable donor.

When his daughters, Shelly Weber and Nikki Weber-Knutson, were tested in mid-November, they discovered they both had Type O positive blood, which was compatible with Dave’s B positive, and had three of four antigens.

Both wanted to be the donor. Neither would back down. Both women’s employers were supportive of the idea.

But Dave, 46, was reluctant to accept such a gift from either daughter.

&uot;The surgeon told him that a parent loves a child so much that he’d do just about anything for the child,&uot; Robin recalled. &uot;But he convinced Dave that children love their parents just as much.

&uot;It’s the ultimate gift. What else is there?&uot; Robin asked.

In early December, the family decided to meet in Faribault for dinner. Dave had devised a solution to decide which daughter would be the donor. He got three scratch-off lottery tickets for each daughter. The daughter who had winning tickets got to keep the money. The one with the &uot;losing&uot; tickets would be the donor. (Dave also had a tie-breaker ticket in his pocket, just in case.)

But Nikki immediately scratched off a $12 winner, and Shelly’s tickets revealed no winners. She would be the donor.

Nikki accepted defeat, but did it with good humor. &uot;I said, ‘Dad, you don’t want a blonde kidney.’&uot;

Shelly’s retort was that her father would simply have more fun with her kidney.

Shelly went in for some extensive follow-up testing Dec. 19 and 20, and on Jan. 2, the family was given a list of possible dates for the transplant. They chose Jan. 24.

Shelly’s one request was that she get a picture of her kidney before it was put in her father. &uot;It’s such a neat thing. It was a piece of me, and now it’s in my dad. But nobody except the transplant team ever sees it,&uot; she said.

The transplant coordinator told her she’d need to talk with the surgeon, who said someone on the team would try to remember to take a photo. Robin even checked with the transplant coordinator during the surgery to make sure it had been done.

To remove Shelly’s kidney, surgeons made three incisions: a small one for the instruments, a small one for a camera, and one slightly larger one in the front. Previously, a very large incision was needed to remove the kidney.

Shelly stayed in the hospital three days, then went to Robin’s sister’s house to recover.

&uot;That was a big worry off my mind, knowing she was taken care of,&uot; Robin said, adding she would be Dave’s caregiver when he was released.

She was told she could go back to work within four weeks of the surgery, and was feeling well until the last week, when air in her chest cavity proved painful and gave her concern about a blood clot.

Dave was in the hospital for five days. Previous surgeries had kept him in for considerably longer periods of time. He suffered from a superficial blood clot that he was told to walk off, something he was able to do in about three weeks.

Dave’s kidney problems were the result of years of high blood pressure brought on by vaccinations before he started school, he said.

&uot;I had high blood pressure all through my school years,&uot; he said. One day in 1978, he woke up with such an incredible headache that doctors decide to remove his kidneys, which had shriveled and looked like charcoal.

The doctors at the Mayo Clinic told him the best thing for him would be a kidney transplant.

He received a kidney from his father, Robert, that year. But his body began to reject it, and within 10 months, it had to be removed. He received dialysis for about a year, then in 1980, got a kidney from his mother, Rosie.

&uot;They said I’d get eight to 10 years out of it,&uot; Dave recalled. &uot;But it worked great for 22 years. It just started to wear out.&uot;

Dave was a longtime employee of Albert Lea’s meat-packing plant, most recently called Farmland Foods. Fortunately, he had kept up his insurance since the plant closed after the July 8 fire, but it has been extremely expensive.

The medications he has taken all these years to battle rejection have been hard on his body. He suffers from osteoporosis, and has had many broken bones. He’s also had some skin cancers removed which have been linked to his medications.

The Weber daughters have grown up knowing a lot about kidneys and organ donation. &uot;I took my first steps at St. Marys Hospital,&uot; Nikki said. &uot;This kidney stuff’s been a part of our lives. We’ve been educated.&uot;

Family members have all checked the &uot;donor&uot; box on their driver’s licenses.

Robin said it’s been interesting to learn just how many families have gone through the donor process.

&uot;We’ve been married 28 years, and this has been going on for 26 years of our married life,&uot; Robin said. &uot;Sometimes I’ve asked why, but then we’ve got two healthy girls.&uot;

She said she believes there is a reason why people have two kidneys. &uot;People can get along fine with one. Obviously the other one’s there to share.&uot;

Dave said he’s glad surgeons were able to leave his mother’s kidney inside, although the new anti-rejection medications may cause it to cease functioning. That kidney has been a part of him for a long time, he added.

&uot;The new kidney has a lot to live up to. But I think you’ll enjoy ours,&uot; Shelly said to her father.

Added Nikki, &uot;If Shelly’s kidney putters out in 20 years, I’ll be ready.&uot;

Shelly refers to herself as &uot;Donor Daughter.&uot;

But Dave has another name for her. &uot;She’s my gift of life, and Nikki’s my other gift of life.&uot;