Albert Lea man finds kidney donor through social media
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(ABC 6 News) – Waiting for a life-saving organ can feel like forever.
For one Albert Lea man in need of a kidney transplant, he has been waiting for more than a year. But now, he finally has a match.
Todd Fjeldberg was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease at the age of 24 and recently it has gotten worse. The disease spread to his liver which put him in the ICU.
“I started in the Owatonna campus for dialysis for the first week and then was transferred to Albert Lea, so I’ve been doing dialysis three days a week, four hours a day,” Fjeldberg said.
Todd’s wife Kari recently made a Facebook post asking for help and support for her husband.
For one Albert Lea man in need of a kidney transplant, he has been waiting for more than a year. But now, he finally has a match.
It didn’t take long for someone in the community to reach out.
Angela Collins, also from Albert Lea, registered to be an organ donor at the age of 16 and when she heard Todd’s story, she knew that she needed to help out.
“She had shared that he was O negative and I thought, well, I’m O negative, you know something inside me just said, you need to do this,” Collins explained.
Angie has now paired up with Todd to be a part of a unique transplant program, called paired exchange, where Angie will donate a kidney, and Todd will receive a kidney from another donor.
The exchange has four other pairs. Four donors and four recipients.
The transplant surgery will take place on Thursday.