Son Gives Mom Kidney For Mother’s Day

Pembroke Pines, FL – Best Mother’s Day gift award this year goes to Paul Morrison, who gave his ailing mother one of his own kidneys.

Late last month, 21-year-old Morrison underwent surgery to donate his left kidney to his mother. She had been diagnosed with acute kidney disease and hypertension in 2001, only for her condition to worsen in 2010. She has been connected to dialysis machines as she waits for a kidney transplant.

The estimated wait was three years, but family members like her husband and oldest son got tested to see if they’d be a good match. Unfortunately, they weren’t. Her youngest son Paul was. Though he was willing, she was more reluctant, as he was only 18 at the time.

“I felt that he was too young at the time,” Gloria Morrison recalled. “I didn’t know if he was ready to make that kind of decision back then. I didn’t want to put pressure on him and make him feel like it was something he had to do. So I decided to wait.”

By the time Paul neared his 21st birthday, he hadn’t backed down on the offer.

“I was pretty nervous at first, but she’s my Mom, and I would do anything for her,” said Paul, a college student. “I’m feeling good right now, and I know my mom is feeling good right now. She had to deal with carrying me in her stomach for nine months, so it was great to be able to give back to her. If I had to do it again right now, I would.”

Doctors say that the prognosis of a kidney is longer if it comes from a living donor than a deceased one. Those who receive a living kidney generally recover quickly and don’t need as much post-op treatment. Also, the waiting list gets shorter.

One week after the surgery, Gloria is doing much better.

“I’m looking forward to a good quality life, enjoying myself and my children, and hopefully their children and the great-grands,” she said. “I want to live as long of a life as I can. I could not ask for anything else.”

“He is my hero.” she said of son, Paul.

What do you think? Is the story of the son giving his mom a kidney a warm one for you Mother’s Day?

[Image via: jannoon028, Shutterstock]