A Gift of Life

Finding childhood friends on sites like Facebook is not a rare thing these days. I know, I've found a couple of people I was wondering about for a long long time. But when Ricardo Manier received a friend request from his long lost friend Karl Celestin, he never even imagined that this newly rebuilt friendship will bring him a new healthy life.
Two of them met in the fourth grade at the Holy Family School and according to Sister Matthew Mary “They were practically inseparable.”
After some time, and a lot of talk Celestin found out that his friend suffers from focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, a kidney-scarring disease that often causes chronic kidney failure, and offered him one of his kidneys.
Manier has been repeatedly hospitalized since he was 5, but hard work got him to premed school at California college.He was hospitalized in June last year when his kidneys just stopped working, and according to his doctors he was just days from death. During his six-week hospitalization he received a friend request from Celestin.
After a lot of tests and despite very long odds, it turned out that they are a match, and Celestin returned to New York for the surgery. When asked about his "donation" he said "I put myself in his shoes." explaining how it pained him to see his old friend's similar ambitions delayed by his condition, which led to dialysis three times a week.
City Councilmen James Gennaro quoted Walt Whitman, who said “when I give, I give of myself,” as he presented Celestin with a certificate from the council, adding, “You give that idea new meaning."
"He's giving me something not too many people would give," Manier, said of his friend. "It's almost like I've been given a second chance," he added, talking about how his friend selfless act will enable them to become classmates once again.
On Tuesday, February 26, surgeons successfully transplanted the organ in surgeries which lasted about nine hours.
Manier says his lifesaving reunion with Celestin was a case of serendipity. His mother, Gail, thinks it was fate that they were grade school classmates.
I guess everything really happens for a reason. Fate or just pure coincidence Karl's gift of life is something we should all be proud of.