He just went out to buy a pack of gum — until a mother's sign moved him to give the gift of life to a stranger
Fate has surreal ways of getting us to the path meant for us. A report from Michigan Live stated that a man named Brian Martindale experienced this uncanny fate when he read about a desperate mom’s sign asking for help. He had initially only stepped out to buy a pack of gum. However, ever since he learned about the sign, something in him kept bringing him back to the mother's helpless plea. When he was convinced that fate had designed this venture for him, he stepped up and offered help that saved a life. Martindale had finished his last stick of gum and casually thought he’d get another pack. He didn’t think much of it.
The man walked into the Liberty Food Store on Third Street and Madison Avenue near downtown Bay City. He chanced upon the newspaper, “The Bay City Times,” for the day and was met with the news on the very first page — a little girl, Jessica Schwerin, and a story about a helpless mother’s sign asking for help. Even after he read it, he didn’t think much of it. As many of us would consume it as news and hope for the best, Martindale did the same and went home. When he returned from the store and turned on the TV, news flashed on the screen and this, too, told the story of the mother-daughter duo.
The 10-year-old girl needed a kidney and her mother could only make a sign, stand in the corner of a street and hope that someone would come as a blessing in disguise. According to the National Kidney Foundation, it takes anywhere between two and five years for a person on the waitlist to get another kidney. It is a long and painful wait for patients and their loved ones who are racing against time. When the man saw the news on TV again, his heart couldn’t brush it off. He kept thinking of the coincidence of the news. He pondered this experience for a few months and was pushed to make a selfless decision — donating a kidney to Schwerin.
He credited his habit of chewing gum, which led him to the life-saving and heroic move. “If I wouldn’t have had the chewing gum thing, if I wouldn’t have run out of that last stick, I would have just gone home that night. I would have never seen the story,” he remarked. After a while, due to having two rotator cuffs, Martindale had to take a break from his business. He still had Schwerin in his mind. As he thought about her, he wondered how heartbreaking it might be for so many children like her to be on the waitlist for years. With this thought in mind, he started “Kidneys for Kids,” a non-profit, to help as many kids in need like Schwerin.
With a donated car, Martindale drove hundreds and even thousands of miles, spreading awareness and looking for donors. “We’ve circled the earth to find kidney donors for children over the last four years,” he said. His selfless work has changed the lives of many in some way or another, but it has also changed his life. During one of his yearly checkups due to the transplant, the man learned he had cancer. “You should have dropped dead at one of your job sites,” his doctor told him. However, because it was caught early on, he was able to start treatment. Martindale’s initiative is still running.
He recently posted a plea for donations so he can keep driving for a mission. “We need you to complete our 'Driving for Life' mission to recruit adult living kidney donors for children,” he said in a post. Though started by coincidence or on a whim, the man has now made it his mission to save lives one kidney at a time.
You can support Kidneys for Kids here.