–"Sup, buddy." –"What's going on? How are you?"
"Good. Missed you."
[Dan Schermerhorn] I've been a public safety officer at U of R for 23 years.
I always knew I wanted to go into law enforcement because I thought that I
would do a really good job at helping people.
–"Welcome back" –"What's going on?"
[Paul Wlosinsk] I knew Dan pretty well. we worked first platoon together for the longest time.
Both of us were officers together in the field. [Dan] When you work with somebody
that closely, especially when you're engaged in high-risk situations if you
will, there's that special bond that you have and you become like a band of
brothers and sisters. "Welcome back." [Paul] You rely on strength of numbers and in that, a bond
is formed. "But I want you guys to always have your hands up and be ready..." [Dan] When I
started out my law enforcement, I had to see a doctor. So the doctor
found blood and protein in my system and that meant something was
wrong with my kidneys. They discovered my disease, which is called IgA nephropathy.
Over the last four years, it got aggressively worse, which started
me on peritoneal dialysis. "This is the machine I was hooked up to for
eight hours every night."
Before I started they get sick, I used to be into endurance sports. So I did
marathons. I was a triathlete. I could not swim when I had a catheter in
place and I loved to swim.
[Mark Orloff] The less time you spend on dialysis or if you can avoid dialysis
completely, that is the best option for most people.
[Dan] I decided to have one of my work colleagues help me formulate an email
to try to get living donation through like the law enforcement community.
[Paul] I was actually skimming through my emails at the time and found it. There
was no doubt in my mind that I was going to go and get tested. It was that simple
of a decision that, Dan needs a kidney immediately and if I'm able to do it, I'm
going to go ahead and do it. [Mark] The importance of living donor, living donation is that
one can often avoid sitting on a wait list. In our area, they are often five and
a half to six years. On top of that, the organ itself lasts longer. It lasts
longer because it's a healthier organ. [Dan] When he came forward and told me 'hey I'm
a match. I talked to my wife about this. I'm going to go through a living
donation for you.' You feel like you owe him so much and he never gave me that impression.
[Paul] I felt good that I was able to help Dan out. I think I've always been
there with the fact that if I have the ability to help somebody out, I'm going to do it.
[Dan] Being off of dialysis is...it was so restrictive...having a living donation I
was able to overcome those restrictions and you feel like your life has been saved
and you had that second chance. Well the thing I look forward to most is
getting on my bike and cycling again. My kids and I both love to go camping and
swim and be in the outdoors. I feel more energetic, like I can do anything I
put my mind to. [Mark] It's tremendously gratifying for the healthcare provider to
be part of this transformation. In fact, the true hero in the process is
really the organ donor. [Paul] Back to work now. To be perfectly honest, I feel 100%.
[Dan] Getting a transplant helped me move on with my life. Really to be a better
better father, and better employee. It changed my life.