morning at 5:30, Dan and Donna Perkins were awakened by their doorbell ringing repeatedly along with loud, repeated banging on their front door.
“ I’ m like‘ What now.’ And I get up and go to the door and there are three policemen there and they said,‘ You’ re not answering your phone. You’ ve got a kidney waiting for you,’” Dan said.
And wasn’ t Sarah’ s kidney.
Dan was incredulous.“ I said you’ ve got the wrong person. It’ s a four- to five-year wait to get a kidney. You’ re wrong. And they said‘ No, it’ s you, and here’ s the number you call.’”
He called.“ The woman on the phone told me there was a deceased donor kidney for me at UTSW, he said.“ I told her she must be mistaken because I just got on the transplant list a couple of weeks ago. I asked if she had the right Dan Perkins and she assured me she did.”
He wanted to know why he had been moved to the head of the line.
“ She said, first, the blood type was a match and eliminated many others with the type. She also told me there are several genetic markers – six or nine – that have to match and the match for me was excellent,” Dan said.“ Then she said‘ Are you interested or not?’”
He asked to speak to the doctor but the surgeon insisted they discuss this in person and not on the phone so Dan and Donna decided they should make the trip. But not before he told his pastor, Chris Yost, and that he was sorry but he would not be hosting the Scouting America luncheon that morning. He was getting a transplant.
When Yost shared the news with the luncheon attendees, they were stunned. Up to that point, few people were privy to Dan’ s condition.
En route to the hospital, Perkins called his regular kidney doctor who told him usually, if a kidney is found for you this soon, it must be an exceptional match.
They arrived at the hospital and met with the surgeon, Dr. JaJa. During their discussion, Dan told the doctor,“ I’ m a trial lawyer, it’ s what I do, to know what’ s going on. But I don’ t know here. I don’ t know if I should take a live kidney or a deceased kidney.”
They explored the pros and cons together and Dan said,“ Look, I don’ t know what’ s going on. You’ re the expert. You tell me, would you take [ the kidney ] or would you
FACEBOOK PHOTOS FROM DAN PERKINS
take my daughter’ s? And he said,‘ I’ m not going to answer that question. I’ ll answer any other question you have but not that one. That’ s up to you.”
So they continued to discuss the risks, and Dan persisted.
“ OK Doc, you tell me, if you were me, would you take that kidney? Because I don’ t know,” he said again,“ And [ the doctor ] repeated,‘ I told you, I’ m not going to answer that question. So we go on for about another five minutes, and I said, OK, Doc, you tell me. With that kidney, would you...? And he finally laughed and said,‘ Yes, yes, yes, I would.’”
That settled it. Dan’ s transplant was a success. The kidney he was given was functioning even before he was roused from the anesthetic. Although he has to have multiple injections daily to prevent rejection and takes special precautions to prevent infections – especially when traveling – he feels it’ s a small price to pay to continue his journey in life.
A year later, almost to the day of his transplant, Dan Perkins is back, hosting what one attendee of the Scouting America luncheon called“ Dan’ s baby.” He beams from the podium, a picture of health and welcomes the guests to one of his favorite causes.
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