Friend gives most important gift

By Brian Ojanpa
The Free Press

MANKATO May 26, 2008 01:24 am

— Most simply put, one man gave of his liver so his best friend could live.
Not so simple is how these types of scenarios must play out.
“They did their best to try to talk me out of it,” donor Bayard Black says of the deep-probing medical process.
“They want to make sure you know what you’re doing, that you’re making an educated decision.”
Jeremy Kolars, still in recovery from his March 21 transplant, becomes introspective when talking about the life-giving organ he received while many others go without:
“There are people dying every day. A lot of people aren’t as lucky as me to have a Bayard Black in my life. He came to me and told me he’d be willing to help, and I can only be humbled by that.”
Kolars, 30, says he first noticed symptoms eight years ago when he was living in Arizona.
His illness was misdiagnosed, and it wasn’t until November 2006 that the Mankatoan’s malady was correctly ascertained — an autoimmune disease that eventually leads to liver failure.
“It was all kind of sudden to find out I had liver issues. They said, “You need a transplant.’”

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