It may have been just another White Sox game for others attending, but a day at the ballpark was a chance to find a guardian angel for Christine Todd. NBC Chicago’s Regina Waldroup reports.
It may have been just another White Sox game for others attending, but a day at the ballpark was a chance to find a guardian angel for Christine Todd.
Todd, who has polycystic kidney disease, is in need of a kidney transplant and is searching for a living donor.
"It is when the cysts take over your kidney and then the kidneys fail. My kidneys are very big and there is no room to put in a deceased kidney," Todd said.
Todd's family attended Wednesday's White Sox game prepared with t-shirts and banners, hoping to spread the word.
“They said you got to get the word out, you got the word out and that is what I’m doing today,” Todd said.
Wednesday isn't the first time Todd has tried something different to find a kidney donor, setting out to find one at Wrigley Field last year.
"Just got to find that one person. One hero who would want to donate to me and save my life," Todd said.
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Todd received some words of encouragement from White Sox legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Harold Baines, who underwent a heart and kidney transplant nearly three years ago.
"She has to have faith and trust the process," Baines said.
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White Sox season ticketholder and kidney transplant recipient Lisa Polk also offered support to Todd, as Polk found her living donor at the ballpark.
“My donor sat in front of us – I’ve known him 23 years,” she said. “This is the ballpark to make it happen. It can happen to anybody, you just have to get the word out.”
There are currently nearly 4,000 Illinois residents who are awaiting an organ transplant. As for Todd, she's registered at Loyola Medical Center, the Mayo Clinic and the National Kidney Registry.
You can visit NKR.org/cbc578 for more information and ways you can help, and you can also sign up to be an organ or tissue donor through the Secretary of State.
