All I want for Christmas ...

TOM JOHNSON

The holiday season is upon us. And this year I’m expecting a gift

that will be unmatched throughout the Newport-Mesa area.

Imagine the best golf clubs money can buy -- the best woods, the

best irons, a new putter and even a new bag. Yet, my gift is better

than that.

Or how about a car, but not just any car -- a new Mercedes, maybe

the new 500, or a Porsche, maybe even a Ferrari. Nope, my gift is

even better that.

How would my gift compare to a world trip or a new house? Still,

even better.

This year, I’m getting a kidney. That’s right -- a new kidney. And

it couldn’t come a moment too soon.

The giver? My brother Cliff. Sixteen months older than I and the

hero in my life for longer than I can remember.

As kids, we shared a room -- Cliff in the bottom bunk, me in the

top. It’s the way it was. Always.

From a very young age, I always looked up to him.

He was always a little bigger, always a little stronger and, it

seemed, always one step ahead.

Cliff had a perfect flattop. I barely managed a crew cut.

When we fought as kids, which was daily -- sometimes even more --

Cliff would always win.

We took up swimming, and Cliff became the star. I became the other

kid in the family who swam.

We built or painted model cars, colored pictures, played games,

and he was always better.

In Boy Scouts, Cliff was always ahead of me in the quest for merit

badges.

In school, Cliff always performed better than I did.

It’s just the way it was. It’s hard being the No. 2 kid!

In seventh grade, I remember picking a fight with the school

bully. He said he’d be “waiting” for me at the top of the stairs

after school. My life flashed in front of me. When the school day

ended, I made the long march up the stairs, waiting to have my lunch

handed to me at the top.

As I approached the final few stairs, a voice came from behind. It

was my brother Cliff. “Wait up Tom, I’ll walk home with you.”

Several steps later, with my older brother at my side, I walked up

to and past the bully. There was nothing he could do. My brother was

bigger and tougher. I even got in a great parting shot knowing it.

In high school, I couldn’t buy a date. Come to think of it, I

never tried, but you get the point.

Cliff, on the other hand, had the girls lining up.

Me? My dates were simple. A girl would call, ask me out, and then

we’d talk the whole night, so she could find out about my brother.

Cliff went on to a successful college swimming career at the

University of Utah, which allowed him to travel the world. During his

college swimming days, he traveled throughout the continental United

States and to Hawaii, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, South

Africa and even Mexico. He was good!

Since then, Cliff has had a very successful partnership in a

structural engineering firm in Reno, Nev.

And at almost 53 years of age, he still rises most mornings at

5:30 a.m. and puts in a good, competitive swim workout.

He lives the good life with a great wife of too many years to

count and three wonderful children. Two are in college, and then

there’s Jack, an 8-year-old afterthought, whom one of his friends

early on referred to as “Lucky,” for obvious reasons.

This morning, Cliff puts his life on hold and returns to his hero

status. Today he lies next to me, giving me the greatest gift I could

imagine -- a kidney.

I have a hereditary disease that killed my father at the age of 29

and has severely affected the life of my younger sister, Nancy.

Cliff and my other two sisters got off clean.

I’m the lucky one, however, because I have Cliff. Just like

always, he’s there when I need him. I couldn’t receive a greater gift

or a greater sign of love from a family member.

I hope you’ll pray for him. He deserves it!

*

According to the PKD Foundation, Polycystic Kidney Disease is the

most common genetic, life-threatening disease affecting more than

600,000 Americans and an estimated 12.5-million people worldwide. In

fact, PKD affects more people than cystic fibrosis, muscular

dystrophy, hemophilia, Down’s syndrome and sickle cell anemia --

combined.

For information on the PKD Foundation, call (800) PKD-CURE or see

their website at pkdcure.org.

* TOM JOHNSON is the publisher.