Young Kidney Recipient Meets Donor's Family

Transplant Patient Celebrates Birthday

Last updated Thursday, March 23, 2006 10:31 PM CST in Front

By Teresa S. Newton
The Morning News

Kolby pulled back as his parents and older brother, Stephan, walked toward the Petersons. The Hot Springs couple were surrounded by Rick's fiancee Heather Henderson, and her son, Payton; their daughter, Tammy Lee; three granddaughters; and Henderson's sister.

The Elkins kindergartner quickly came out of his shell, talking about himself, his sixth birthday party later that afternoon and his new kidney.

"You sure are a tough guy," Lynn Peterson said, smiling.

"Yeah, I've got the scars. Chicks dig scars," Kolby said confidently.

His shyness returned quickly when his mother asked if he wanted to show those scars to the Petersons. Later, Kolby lifted his shirt to show the marks.

Each family brought gifts for the other and photo albums to share.

One album spanned Rick's life, featuring a snapshot of a newborn Rick and his parents on the cover. Lynn Peterson taped paper over two photos of her son on life support so Kolby wouldn't see them.

Kolby gave the Petersons a smaller photo album showing him from age 18 months, before he became ill, through his fight with focal segmental glomerular sclerosis, a kidney disease, as well as his transplant and recovery.

The youngster included a drawing of a red truck in his gift to the Petersons.

"Rick had two red trucks," Doug Peterson told Kolby.

Doctors at Arkansas Children's Hospital removed Kolby's kidneys at age 3 to stop the kidney disease's progress, forcing him to be attached to a dialysis machine each night for a year. Tests showed a family friend was a close match as a potential donor when Rick Peterson died. Peterson was a perfect match, doctors told Stephanie Eiland.

"I'm so glad our blood mixed together," Kolby told Natalie Mills, family liaison for Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency. Donor and recipient match when their blood blends together in one test, Eiland said. If the blood separates, they are not a match.

Kolby asked to meet his donor last July, but the youngster thought it was a doctor he met at Arkansas Children's Hospital. His mother explained his kidney came from someone who was going to heaven and had asked his organs go to sick children.

"He was a kid and was into kids," Lynn Peterson said about her youngest child. "He would play in the snow with them, even play baby dolls." Rick Peterson enjoyed playing with Payton, as well as his one nephew and seven nieces, she said. He also loved fishing, hunting and riding all-terrain vehicles.

He planned to finish his education before starting a family, but then he met Heather Henderson and her son, Payton, Doug Peterson said. Rick fell in love with the young woman, and they planned to marry.

Rick told his parents he wanted to be an organ donor after a funeral for a cousin, whose organs were not donated.

"He made that decision at 17," his father said. "That was a very mature decision."

Kolby is one of several people who benefited from Rick's donations. Other patients received his lungs, liver, spleen, eyes, tissue, bone and other kidney, Lynn Peterson said.

"He was a pleasure, a joy. He was everything," Doug Peterson said.

"He was a gift to us," his mother said.

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