Neighbour gives a kidney

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A Dundas father in need of a new kidney took to Facebook to find a donor – but as it turns out, his perfect match was living just a street away.

Arie Pekar has polycystic kidney disease, or PKD.

“The kidneys grow several times the size. mine are about the size of footballs, normally they should be the size of your fist.”

As the name suggests, the disease causes multiple cysts take over the kidneys to the point where they are no longer able to function properly — hence the dialysis machine in his basement.

Pekar has known he’s had PKD since high school when doctors noticed he had high blood pressure. They said the 35 year old wouldn’t have to worry about the disease until he was in his 50s – but things progressed quickly.

“Once I graduated university cysts started rupturing a lot of pain. and that’s when they started to follow me a bit closer.”

And now, Pekar is in need of a new kidney. He’s been looking for a donor for about three years.

“They basically say ‘OK, go find a donor and come back. and find a donor.. come back and we’ll do it this year preemptively”

As if finding a living donor isn’t hard enough, PKD is genetic. Pekar’s mother has it and is in need of a kidney herself. He set up a Facebook page called Mom and me need a kidney to raise awareness”. That’s where family friend Darren Kudlats – who just lives down the road from the Pekars – comes in.

“Even the doctors at the hospital were surprised. Next to being twins we have a very close compatibility.”

Finding such a donor in the same country let alone living 500 meters away is highly unlikely.

Pekar says it’s amazing that a friend would step up to do this. “He’s as close to me as family.”

And when you ask Kudlats why he decided to donate an organ, it seems he didn’t think twice. “I was his friend and he needed a kidney. I guess I stepped up.”

The men will go into surgery February 20th. And hopefully, it’s a match made in Hamilton.