Tim Gaspar thinks a lot about how to save things – he’s an insurance agent after all, but he didn’t really think about saving lives until his long-time friend sent out a group text.
Doug needed a kidney.
A small group of friends all signed up to be tested, and Gaspar and his wife Christina also signed on. “It wasn’t like he called up and said, ‘Can I have your kidney’ or anything,” Gaspar laughed.
The donation program works that if you’re a match to someone in the program you swap out – you bring a kidney for someone and you get one for someone, not necessarily the person you know. UCLA began testing the applicants – “more extensive than any physical,” said Gaspar. They want you to be the epitome of good health.
Over months people were eliminated one by one. “I just had a feeling,” Gaspar told Valley News Group. “I was going to be a match for Doug.”
Four weeks ago UCLA confirmed he was, indeed, a match for Doug, and the surgery was scheduled.
“I wasn’t nervous,” he related.” “My father had just passed and my head was in a different place.” Gaspar said the first 24 hours post-surgery were a little tough, but he’s on the mend now. “To do something that helps fill your soul just feels different. It’s like donating clothes to charity – but 1000 times better! ”
Better yet, Doug is doing great. “He’s a guy with the biggest heart in the world,” said Gaspar. “And now he’s got a kidney as well… And honestly it came down to the fact that you have two, and only need one!”
