Colorful Characters — Adam Hrankowski

Would you give a kidney to somebody you barely knew?

Well, that’s what barefooter Adam Hrankowski did.

Barefooters come from all walks of life, and some have hearts as big as the whole outdoors. Adam Hrankowski is one of those.

As noted in this story, Living Donor Urges Others To Take Steps To Help At Kidney Walk, there was a Kidney Walk for the Kidney Foundation of Canada in Prince George, British Columbia on Sunday. The guest of honor was Adam, who donated one of his kidneys last June 17 to John Routley.

They’d met through home-schooling and become friends only a few years ago. Routley had been on dialysis for a long time. And then, when Adam did the research to find out about a donation, he discovered that they were a close enough match.

Here’s a bit describing Adam’s great heart, from Heck of a favor:

Routley hopes his triumph over all these medical setbacks will inspire others, including those on dialysis waiting for a living or deceased donor.

“Don’t give up on hope and miracles,” Routley said. “I thought this living donor thing, I couldn’t imagine someone doing that for me.”

Routley might see Hrankowski as his hero for giving him the opportunity to get off dialysis and get on with his life, but Hrankowski sees the equation differently.

“I think that John and people like him, they’re the heroes,” he said. “He got into this situation that he didn’t choose to be in and he’s got to make the decisions.”

Hrankowski acknowledged there were risks for him by deciding to become a living organ donor, but he said the challenges Routley faced were more extreme.

“I think the heroes are the people and their families that are living with kidney disease and are undergoing transplants,” he said.

Adam is already back at work.

At the Kidney Walk, as the guest of honor, he, along with Prince George mayor Shari Green, cut the ribbon to officially start the walk.

Cutting the Ribbon

Yes, that is a giant kidney with them: Sidney the Kidney.

When we barefooters have our little problems with stores and the like, we need to keep in mind that, in the big scheme of things, they really are little. It is people like Adam Hrankowski and his big effort helping John Routley that helps us keep things in perspective.