GARDNERVILLE, NV - After living most of her life with diabetes, Paula Dumas of Gardnerville is in stage 5 renal failure. She needs a kidney transplant. “People die every day on dialysis waiting for organs,” she says. Fortunately Paula won’t have to wait for an organ to become available. When her coworker Dan Hamer learned she was in need of a kidney transplant, without hesitation, he volunteered to see if he'd be a match.

“In an ideal world,” says Dan “Paula wouldn't suffer from renal failure, and I wouldn't have to step up. But it's a duty you help people when they need it.”

What he sees as duty she sees as bravery. “He knows he's going to be injured. He knows he's going to have recovery. He knows he's going to take time away from family, his kids, his wife, his parents his job,” she says. “So to me it's huge.”

When Dan first offered a kidney to Paula nearly 2 years ago, he couldn't know that how his own family would someday be affected by the need for organ donation. “Our youngest daughter Elsie has Cystic Fibrosis,” explains his wife Rachel. “Most people with that disease will need a lung transplant. So for us, is very important and if we can help somebody maybe that helps somebody decide to be a donor on their driver’s license or sign up on Facebook now.” Dan says donation is an individual choice, but for him it was no choice at all. Instead he says it was a matter of duty, helping someone simply because they needed it.

Paula and Dan will travel to California for the transplant on June 19th. Both will miss significant time at work while they recover from surgery. To help cover costs their friends and families are hosting a fundraiser on June 9th at Trimmer Outpost barn in Genoa. A bank account has also been set up for those who want to make donations. For more information, please check out the links below.

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