The rekindling of a childhood friendship between Daryl Schroeder and Tim Froese, from Rosenfeld and Altona originally, now both living in Winnipeg, has also sparked the possibility of Daryl receiving a much needed kidney transplant from Tim. Schroeder has polycystic kidney failure, and is currently on dialysis, with his journey beginning about a year and a half ago when he first started feeling unwell.
Froese is one of the featured artists in season two exhibit at Altona's Gallery in the Park, and both were in attendance for last Thursday's kick-off event. That's where PembinaValleyOnline caught up with them to connect about this story.
"One day around December I woke up not feeling good on a Saturday, went in (to the hospital) and my blood pressure was 190 over 120 or 130, or something that," shared Schroeder as he outlined finding out about his kidney condition. "The doctor gave me some heart medication, and told me to go for a blood test the next day, and so I went for the blood test, and he called me up and said you gotta come and see me right away."
He was admitted to the emergency room at a Winnipeg hospital, and spent six days there, ultimately learning out he had a kidney issue of some sort.
"About three weeks after that, in January, I did the formal interview with the hospital's kidney department, and they basically told me my kidney function was down to 12%," continued Schroeder. "I said, 'What's my other kidney?' And they said 'No, both kidneys are 12%'. I asked them what the prognosis was, and they said about a year. They gave me a special diet to go on, and I was on this diet for a month and a half, and then went back in to get my second round of evaluation, and they said, 'Sorry to say you're down to 4%"
This is when Schroeder had a central line put in, and he began dialysis four times a week at home, "That's what's keeping me alive."
Three of his family members have stepped forward to go through the donation process, but all were eliminated because the condition he has is hereditary.
After his diagnosis, Schroeder began volunteering with the U.S. based National Kidney Donation Organization (NKDO), and it was through that work online he ultimately reconnected with Froese through Facebook.
"I just sent a quick message, and he sent me back a cryptic message saying, 'Explain some of the things we did as kids," explained Schroeder, while in the background Froese confirmed he was "vetting him" to make sure it really was his childhood friend.
Through the use of Schroeder's nickname pronounced "Shroodah", which Froese noted was inscribed on the back of photo of the two in Grade 10 or so, the friends started to reconnect. They did a number of things together, like go to a hockey game and the like, as the relationship was restarted after decades living their own lives.
"At no point in time did I ever ask him about his kidney, or any of that," stressed Schroeder. "That was not the point of it. At the time, it was reconnecting that was important."
And then one day Froese asked the question, "What do you need?"
"I said O (blood type), and he goes 'I'm an O'," said Schroeder. "So he went down and started the process off, and we are in the process now of making sure everything is matched. Hopefully, by Christmas time, everything goes well, I'll be having a Tim kidney in me."
Or as Froese jokingly said, a "Tim Bit".
"To me, it's a no brainer," said Froese quickly when asked why he's willing to go through with this amazingly selfless act. "Once you're 66, as I am, health is everything. Once I found I was the right blood type, it was let's do it. The people that run the kidney screening are very, very thorough, and they're meticulous about making sure you as the potential donor know there are risks X,Y and Z. Basically, I think if I pass through all the various tests they're now going to put me through, If I pass those, the rest of the risk, forget about it."
Schroeder admits he still feels very emotional about the entire situation.
"I just really can't explain how grateful I am he's giving me this opportunity," said Schroeder with emotion in his voice. "Even if it doesn't work out, there's something that doesn't happen, it's amazing that somebody thinks so much of somebody else that they do this. If it does come to fruition, I think the joy Tim's going to feel, actually doing what he is doing, is going to be something immeasurable, something a lot of people don't understand. If you talk to a lot of kidney donors, they say they would do it again in a heartbeat if they had another kidney. They would give another kidney if the had it."
Again, Froese is still currently in the process of completing the necessary steps and checks before the transplant surgery can officially be scheduled, but Schroeder told us everything is pointing to that having a positive outcome. That surgery could come as soon as around Christmas time this year.
You can listen to Daryl and Tim's story, in its entirety, below.