A life shared, a life saved

Andrew Edwards

Lagunan Dan Stafford said his feelings for Tiana Bryant can be summed

up in one word.

“Thankful.”

Thanks to Bryant, Stafford is off dialysis with the help of a

brand-new kidney donated by Bryant. The two are recovering from a

transplant surgery performed at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Orange on

Aug. 3.

“I was sore right after, obviously,” Stafford said. “But my color

came back right away, and my eyes were white again. Every day gets

better and better.”

Byant, 25, lives in San Clemente and is a waitress at her father’s

restaurant, the Coyote Grill, where Stafford, 26, just happened to be

a regular customer. Before Stafford needed a kidney transplant, the

two were merely acquaintances.

“My sister knew him a little better, but it was just kind of a

‘Hi, how are you doing’ kind of thing,’” Bryant said.

But after Stafford suffered kidney failure last November, their

paths crossed. Her manager at the Coyote Grill, Jeffrey Williams,

showed her a clip from the Coastline Pilot on Stafford’s medical

problem.

“I said, ‘Look at this Tiana, Dan needs a new kidney,’” Williams

said. “And she took it from there.”

Reading the clip inspired her to donate, to the amazement of

people close to her.

“I think [her decision] surprised everybody, and one day she just

put up a notice that she needed six weeks off,” Williams added.

Her motivation was simple, she said. She just wanted to help.

“At first I wondered what the scar would look like, but if you

have the opportunity to save someone’s life, that would be pretty

cool,” Bryant said.

Bryant’s choice came as a shock to her father, Kim Bryant, who

initially opposed her decision because he worried about her health,

before coming to the conclusion that she could live a full life with

only one kidney.

“I was a little hesitant and worried about her future with only

one kidney,” Kim Bryant said.

In the end, the choice was up to her.

“She knew exactly what she was getting into,” Kim Bryant said.

Before the surgery, Tiana Bryant underwent months of blood and

urine tests and even a psychological evaluation. But what made her

most anxious wasn’t the tests or surgery, it was when she first

decided to contact Stafford’s family.

“The most nervous I was, was when I called Dan’s parents and told

them I was considering donating my kidney,” she said. “That’s when my

stomach dropped and I got butterflies.”

Not surprisingly, Dan’s parents were extremely grateful for her

generosity.

“I think she’s an angel from heaven,” Stafford’s mother, Karen

Gilbert said. “She created a miracle for Dan.”

By donating her kidney, Bryant possibly shaved years off the

amount of time Stafford could have spent waiting for a new organ,

said Dr. Erwin Ruzics, who performed the surgery. Patients who don’t

have a live donor must wait for a kidney from a deceased donor, and

last year there were about 8,500 kidneys available for a waiting list

of some 250,000 people.

In Southern California, “the waiting time to get a deceased donor

kidney ranges from three to eight years,” Ruzics said.

Last year, St. Joseph’s had a 97% first-year success rate for

kidney donations, and his doctors expect him to make it.

“We’re pretty confident that Dan has a good chance of success,”

Ruzics said.

Stafford and three friends own a surf clothing company, Turkey

U.S.A., and he is an avid surfer, though it will be about six more

months until he can go back in the ocean.

“It is kind of torture doing the interview here, watching the

waves,” Stafford said at Aliso Beach.

Tiana Bryant also enjoys surfing, as well as golf, and like

Stafford, said she is looking forward to being more active again. But

for now, she feels fine just knowing she could help save a life.

“I’m super happy I did it, it makes me feel good,” she said. “I’m

proud of my scar.”