Macdonald Lays Down Sacrifice, Everyone Wins

Larry Macdonald, a good friend of mine for the last 10 years or so, and an original member of the Seamheads.com Diamond Kings Baseball League, made a sacrifice for another friend that makes me proud to know him. Macdonald donated a kidney to Jim Rosenbeck, a friend he’d met while playing in the same fantasy baseball league, and quite possibly saved Jim’s life. Their story aired on ESPN on Thanksgiving Day and if you missed it you can see the interview at YouTube.com. 

Here is an excerpt from Jim’s patient profile at the National Transplant Assistance Fund web site:

“Larry Mac gave us Max Scores…Larry Mac is giving me a kidney.
My name is Jim Rosenbeck. Most who know me from here, don’t know that I have Polycystic Kidney Disease. Last year I entered renal failure and became dependent on peritoneal dialysis, which I do at home 4 times a day.

I have known Larry since 2001 when we met by chance (is it really?) in my first STATS league. I recall Larry’s team that season was the Seattle Space Needles. During that first league Larry and I struck up a conversation and found that we lived relatively near to each other; albeit in different countries. Larry lives in Toronto with his wife Virginia. My wife (Debbie) and I live near Buffalo NY. Over the last five years we have come to know each other and each other’s families well and have become close friends. My wife always says “I feel like we have known Larry and Virginia for forever”. Who knew that this relationship which began with a common interest in a computer generated baseball simulation would result in Larry offering me one of his kidneys? But it has and sometimes I wonder how and why. I don’t believe that these things happen by chance. Larry and his wife Virginia have clearly been sent by the Angels of God.”

The surgery went well and both Larry and Jim are doing fine. In fact Larry just finished playing in a competitive frisbee tournament and he says he feels no different than he did before the surgery. This is an amazing story and again I’m proud to call Larry my friend.