<\/a>A sign in front of Dale and Denise Pac’s home lets guests know that they are entering the home of a kidney transplant patient and to make sure to they are cautious about contamination. Photo by Keelin Everly-Lang \/ The Mirror.<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The shoes she wore on the first day of practice were too slippery for the sport and she remembers Dale telling her to try taking them off. He was surprised when she actually did and played the rest of the day barefoot. She also caught his eye when he “threw this long bomb,” and she caught the ball from across the field. She said she fell, but he was still impressed.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
These days they love attending sports games and fondly reminiscing over the linguica pizza they would get from Pietro’s in Federal Way after every game. The restaurant is now the Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse and has become another of their many beloved memories in their beloved city.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
As the sickness worsened, it got in the way of much of their family fun. Denise and their children did their best to make sure they could still enjoy life though. Dale wasn’t allowed to carry more than 20 pounds, so his children were often the ones to load up the 40-pound boxes of his dialysis equipment into the trailer to go camping.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Now that he has recovered, he can even get on a plane without having to worry about lugging around the lifesaving but extensive machinery. It kept him alive while he waited for a new kidney, but also almost stopped him from being able to receive one.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The type of dialysis he received caused an internal bleed that could have kicked him off the transplant list. He also could have been ineligible if he had contracted COVID, which was a real fear with a spouse who was a charge nurse in an emergency room.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I would come home and take everything off in the garage and get right in the shower,” she said. Dale remembers the deep marks on her face each night from the mask and how dehydrated she would get when PPE stocks were low and she couldn’t afford to waste a mask on getting a drink of water.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Thankfully by the time the couple received their surgeries to transfer the kidney, COVID restrictions had relaxed enough for their children to visit them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
Celebrating their year anniversary of the surgery and the unlikely odds of their lifesaving match, the couple is now happy and healthy and grateful for every moment.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“My dad has a whole new outlook now,” Alleah Pac said. “He’s back to his old self.” When it comes to their miraculous match, she said “it just shows they were literally meant to be.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t