Bears fan with life-threatening condition gets a kidney thanks to holding up a sign during NFL game
Chicago Bears fan Marcus Edwards was in kidney failure when he held up a sign in 2019 seeking a kidney at a Chicago Bears game. Plenty of people signed up to be tested once the sign was seen during the game, but there was no match for the Indiana native.
Fellow Indiana resident Jennifer Michel caught Edwards’ story on WLKY, a local news station in Louisville, Kentucky. Fast forward to October 2021, Edwards and Michel met for the first time at the hospital.
It was just two days after she had donated her kidney to Marcus. He said Michel saved his life:
"There was a complete stranger, (who lived) 15 minutes from me, who just saved my life. It was incredible.”
Marcus Edwards needed a kidney, so he asked for one - at a Chicago Bears game.
A surprise trip to the game would lead to a viral moment that ultimately led to his kidney donor, someone he would never have met otherwise.
Discover hope: ow.ly/CmOJ50HSOTE https://t.co/ozZQbYNyvs
He says that she is a part of the Edwards family.
The story of Bears fan Marcus Edwards and how he found a match
Over the summer of 2019, the Indiana native began enduring what he perceived were flu-like symptoms while on a business trip in Florida. Edwards remembered the moment, saying:
“I could barely move without running out of breath.”
Edwards made it back to Kentucky, where he had his brother-in-law drive him to the emergency room. Soon after, doctors told the longtime Bears fan that his kidneys were failing.
He was on dialysis five days a week for around three hours at a time. He described his experience on dialysis, saying the process mimics kidney function by removing toxins:
“You hook up two lines in. One blood goes into the machine, cleans the blood, removes the fluid and one line puts it back in. It’s removing all the fluid from your tissue because your kidneys remove all toxins and fluid from your body through your urine. And if they’re not, then they’re just building in. So, to get that clean and clean those toxins out, you have to have the machine.”
Edwards and his wife made a visit to Chicago to take in a Bears game at Soldier Field to see them face the Detroit Lions. At the game, he carried a sign that read “I need a Kidney” with his O-Positive blood type and his phone number also written on it.
He said he used a green marker for the word “kidney” to show the color for kidney awareness. Edwards said:
“I thought, if I held this sign up and one person saw this sign and came across and was a match, that’s what I needed.”
Marcus Edwards is a father, a husband and he needs a kidney transplant to survive. A stranger snapped this photo at a recent NFL game. Now, the Jeffersonville man says hundreds of strangers have reached out, wanting to help. More on this incredible story at 5:30. https://t.co/WGsUN3W0nW
Well, Jennifer Michel saw his sign. And thanks to her, he will no longer have to ponder if he would be around to see his children’s pivotal life moments. Edwards knows he'll be there to see the moments and stated Michel will be there as well.