'Living Angel' donates kidney to stranger

Citizen's Voice ^ | 4/10/2004 | Denise Allabaugh

[Born Conservative]

Celia Care of Plymouth really lives up to her last name. For the Elick family of Hanover Township, Care always will be their "living angel."

Care, 28, a mother of four, has agreed to donate one of her kidneys to Scott Elick, 36, of Hanover Township, a father of four adopted children.

By providing this generous gift, she is saving his life. Care said her husband, Bob, who serves in the Army National Guard, was stationed in Germany and she knows what it was like for her four kids to be without a father for months. She did not want the four children in the Elick family to be without a father.

She and Scott's wife, Ann, met at their sons' wrestling practices. "When I started hearing about her husband being sick, I felt bad that these kids might be without a dad," Care said. She took it upon herself to research kidney transplants and to set up an appointment for the transplant April 27 at Pinnacle Health Hospitals in Harrisburg.

"Once I heard about him, I said I'm doing this. I'm giving him my kidney," Care stressed. Care has type O blood, which means she can be a donor to any blood type, including Scott's blood type of A. Care and Elick have already been to Pinnacle Health Hospitals, where they were told for unrelated donors, they match almost like brother and sister.

The odds of finding a perfect kidney match are one in four for siblings. To find a match with a person from the general community, the odds are one in 1,000. The transplant will be performed by Dr. Harry Yang, who is ranked number two in the country for kidney transplants. Care and Elick are only children, and Elick says he feels like he now has a sister.

Elick was diagnosed with polycystic kidneys when he was only 14 year old. "It's hereditary and it gets worse as you get older," Elick said. "Last summer, they had to remove my one kidney because it became too enlarged and was causing too much bleeding."

Since the end of August, he has been undergoing dialysis. After he receives his new kidney, he is grateful he will no longer have to go through this procedure.

"The kidney I have right now is only operating about 8 to 10 percent," Elick said. "Just to get off dialysis will be a wonderful thing. It cramps my leg like you cannot imagine. Dialysis just wears you down as time goes on. When I come home, I am so run down."

Ann Elick calls Care their "living angel." "I don't know if I could have gone through this the way she is," she said. "She didn't even know us and she wanted to do this. We're happy and we're very grateful. We are very lucky."

Elick said she was surprised when Care told her at a wrestling meet that she wanted to donate her kidney. When Care was told Pinnacle Health Hospitals were booked through May for kidney transplants, she pushed for a date of April 27.

"She did a lot of research on her own. She really got the ball rolling. She has been the push behind it," Ann Elick said. "She is a perfect stranger who just walked into our lives and is going to save my husband's life. Now, she is going to be part of our family forever."

Donations to help defray the cost of the kidney transplant are being accepted at Citizens Bank, 23 N. Main St., Ashley, PA 18706. For more information, call 822-1610.

[Born Conservative]

Scott Elick and Celia Care discuss the upcoming operation

[netmilsmom]

Oh the Prayers are needed for these two!!!

[cyborg]

prayers bump

[mtbopfuyn]

Twenty-eight and has 4 kids of her own? She's young and has small children that need raising. What if her remaining kidney is damaged in a car wreck next week or she developes a kidney disease? It's not like she can ask for her kidney back when she needs it one day. That's nice of her to want to do this but she's obviously not thinking this through with her own children. This reminds me of the man last year who was on some sort of wacky crusade to give away all his body parts including, if I remember correctly, his heart.

[Clara Lou]

I agree with you. It's selfless of her to donate a kidney, but what about her own family? Who knows what's ahead in her life? She shouldn't sacrifice the security of her own family for another one.

[Dudoight]

My son is going throught the tests to see if he can donate one of his kidneys to his mother-in-law. As his mother, I have concerns, but am proud I raised such a good guy. His wife cannot donate for health reasons. We await the outcome of the tests.

[trussell]

Prayer ping.

I will be praying for these two!!

netmilsmom, Thank you for the ping.

Blessings,
Trussell


If you want on or off my prayer ping list, please let me know. All requests happily honored.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

My brother has lived for forty-three years with only one kidney. What ifs never occur to him. He is thankful for each day.

[Dubya]

Praying.

[Born Conservative]

I have a family; what if I get struck by a car and die on my way home from work? Should I stay home and not go to work, because their is a possibility that I can die? I understand your concern for the children of the donor, but I think it is misplaced. I sure hope you are never in the position of needing a donated organ...

[Hildy]

I understand what you're saying...and Dr. Laura would agree with you, that your first responsibility is to your family. However, this operation is not a life-threatening operation. Think of the lesson she's teaching her children about selflessness and love. It's a tough call and it takes a truly exceptional person to see the bigger picture.

[Born Conservative]

I'd like to re-phrase a portion of post #11: I understand your concern for the children of the donor, but I think your concern is secondary to the fact that this woman is choosing to save the man's life. There are a lot of "what-if's" in everything we do. If we lived our lives based on "what-if's", we wouldn't have much quality to our lives, would we?

[Alamo-Girl]

I join in prayer for these!

[CDHart]

Prayers going up for all who are involved -- may God watch over them and and the doctors and nurses who care for them and give them strength to endure, in Jesus' name.

Carolyn

[Clara Lou]

I wasn't addressing the danger of the operation to remove the kidney. My concern is for the the next 20 years that she spends raising her own children. What if kidney disease takes her good kidney? What if she's in an automobile accident that damages or destroys it? What if she gets diabetes? (I have a friend who became diabetic after a bout of the flu.) Then her life is in danger and, therefore, her children's lives are negatively affected. I believe that she is misguided in her generosity. I do hope that her donation works out for the best for all parties involved.