Three members of a North Texas family now share a bond that goes way past DNA. They each donated a kidney to help someone else live.
"I just look at our lives and my life and how blessed we’ve been, and I''ve got one to give, and if somebody can use it, then why not?," said Randy Nickerson in a video Texas Health Harris Methodist Fort Worth shared with NBC5.
Two weeks ago, on July 24th, Nickerson did what his wife and son had already done - donated a kidney.
The three surgeries all happened in less than a year.
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It started with Joel Nickerson. An article about kidney donation inspired the 43-year-old to sign up to be a donor. The surgery happened in September of 2023.
"I take ‘love thy neighbor’ seriously, so I’ve always looked for those opportunities,” Joel said. “I saw it being a day in the hospital, a couple weeks’ recovery and that’s it – you give somebody a new lease on life. That’s a small price to pay, and the risks just aren’t that big compared to the payback.”
Three months later in December 2023, his mom Ava, a science teacher, had her surgery over the holiday break. A thank you card from the recipient motivated Randy to do the same thing. At age 70, he thought he was too old to donate then learned there is no maximum age limit.
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“Since our kidney transplant program began in 1986, we have never before had two living donors from the same immediate family,” said Robyn Dye, administrator of the program. “To know that three members of the same family volunteered to give life to strangers in need is truly amazing, and we are grateful that Texas Health Fort Worth was able to play a part.”
