St Rita's parish, Dallas, pastor, Monsignor Mark Seitz has donated a kidney to one of his parishioners, Carrie Gehling.
Ms Gehling lost both legs to a 40-year fight with diabetes and suffered four heart attacks, one of which left her clinically dead for 2 ½ minutes, the Dallas News reports.
After years of dialysis, she needed a kidney transplant, but her medical history made her a high-risk candidate. Several hospitals had turned her down until Medical City Dallas Hospital earlier this year agreed to the procedure - with the provision that she find a live donor.
Among those she turned to for help was her pastor, Monsignor Seitz.
One day he was thinking about where Gehling could get a donor.
"And then I thought, why not me?"
The transplant took place Tuesday morning. Later in the day, a spokesman at the northwest Dallas parish said the procedure had gone well. Both patients were conscious and recovering in their respective rooms at Medical City.
Last summer, when he first heard that Gehling needed a kidney, "it got me thinking about what a priest does," Seitz said. "We follow the model of one who literally gave his life for us. If he can lay down his life, I can give away a kidney."
"He's always been there to help those who need him the most," parishioner Michelle Chadwick said of Msgr Seitz.
FULL STORY @
Parishioner's prayers for kidney answered by her priest (Dallas News)
Carrie Gehling/Fr Mark Seitz (Caring Bridge)
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St Rita parish, Dallas