The Chronicle reported on July 4 that David Seldner is in need of a kidney transplant and was searching for a person who could donate a kidney to him. He has found his match and is expected to have surgery next week at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
In late July Seldner told his friends, “Jeannie and I want to share some wonderful news with you — we have found a special person, a very special friend of ours, Ellen Murphy, who is our kidney donor!”
“We are both excited and awestruck by our friend and donor, Ellen, and her remarkable generosity of spirit and love to have reached out and asked us to be among those being tested,” he continued. “Ellen and her wonderful husband Mike are truly lifesavers and more caring than our words can describe. We have depleted our reserve of tears and now only our words and deep appreciative smiles can express our feelings and love for her gift. G-d bless The Murphys and their family for their remarkable, loving friendship. We were close before and now are even closer! What a connection and what a blessing!”
Seldner said he and his wife are also very grateful for those friends and family who have been tested as well as all those who have helped them in a multitude of ways such as including them in their prayers.
“Your support has kept us afloat emotionally during these past months as harrowing as they have been for us. … Thank you for being there for us,” he said.
Seldner will undergo a series of anti-rejection treatments at the hospital prior to the transplant surgery. He said they are “anxious and excited and trust all will go well.” Doctors have advised him to keep hospital visitors to a minimum.
The transplant surgery itself takes approximately three hours. Seldner has been told that he should expect to remain in the hospital about five days following surgery. His recovery from the transplant should take from one to two months and it will be about six months before he is expected to be completely recovered.
If you want to follow Seldner’s progress, you can read about it on caringbridge.org.
