Episode 11 of Can't Turn it Off featured a living kidney donor.
Harold Mintz told an amazing story about how he came to the decision to donate a kidney to a woman he didn't know.
What I didn't talk about is how I met Harold.
I don't think I have mentioned it, but by day I'm a newspaper reporter. I've been a reporter for more than 20 years. I cover a little of everything, and sometimes I enjoy it.
I was invited to hear Harold speak to a group of students at a Bloomington, Minnesota, high school. I was told it was a good story, but I wasn't convinced that regurgitating Harold's story was something I wanted to do. I have some flexibility in deciding how I spend my time, and I could have easily declined the invitation. I could have gone about other business that Friday morning and forgotten about Harold forever.
Whatever the reason, I said yes to the invitation and showed up at the high school that Friday morning in February. I listened to him speak for about 45 minutes, and typed like a mad man. There was no audio recording of his presentation to transcribe, I captured everything I could during that one sitting.
Harold was giving three presentations to students during three consecutive hours that morning. So after talking briefly with Harold between classes, I stuck around long enough to take pictures to accompany the article.
I left the school 90 minutes after I arrived, and wound up with one heck of a story. I also realized it was an incredible story that I wanted to share with those who don't read my newspaper. Having recently started my podcast, I knew Harold's story would be a perfect fit for what I'm trying to do.
Fast forward a few months and I'm interviewing Harold by phone, revisiting the story I had written, and presenting it with a bit of a twist to the way he normally presents it. Harold may not have given me the gift of life that night, but I was humbled by the generosity with which he gave of his time.
I hope you enjoyed his story half as much as I did. If you'd like to revisit Harold's story, as written by me, it's available online.
And I'm happy to note that you can now see the documentary about Harold's kidney donation by visiting Harold's Kidney website.
I think about Harold's story periodically. He lives in California. I live in Minnesota. We may never cross paths again, but I will never forget his story, and I'm better off for it. I hope you can say the same.
