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PHOENIX (KSAZ) - A loyal employee, Jason Kvam, has been an employee of Desert Financial for 23 years now, and throughout his entire time with the company, Jason has fought an uphill battle.
"I've been more hopeful in the last few months than I've been in the last few years," he said. "So far, no match. I'm a hard match because I've had a transplant in the past, my blood has built up antibodies against other peoples' blood."
Desert Financial is doing what they can do to repay Jason in full. His co-workers say they're pulling out all the stops to ensure Jason gets a new kidney.
"I see Jason in the hallway almost everyday and I say 'hey Jason, how's it going?'" Kathy Graham said. "And he says the same thing every time... 'living the dream, Kathy' with a big smile on his face." "We already have those resources, so it just came down to why would we not help Jason."
And that's just what they're doing. The company created a video, launching the "A Kidney for Kvam" campaign. They hope the video might bring in donors and then Jason would find a match.
"I contemplated whether or not I should do it and I had a few friends tell me I was a complete idiot if I didn't do it, and that this was bigger than me and it would raise awareness for kidney failure in general and that made me feel very proud... to raise awareness for the cause and then to hopefully get a transplant out of it," Kvam said. "There would be nothing better."
For more information about Jason's story or to help in his search for a new kidney:
https://www.desertfinancial.com/learning-center/articles/share-help-inspire
For more information on living kidney donation:
https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/Organ-Donation-and-Transplantation-Stats
https://www.kidneyregistry.org/living_donors.php?cookie=1