The day Dan Heins received Nancy Volk's kidney, he said he shed 20 years. Before the transplant, he'd lost both legs to diabetes, had a heart attack and a stroke, and underwent quadruple bypass surgery. But in the recovery room after the kidney transplant, "I got my strength back, I got my life back," Heins recalled recently.
But what of Volk?
This was, after all, supposed to be the story of the kidney that saved one life and renewed another.
Volk knew Heins only casually when she made the decision in 2008 that would link them forever. She owned the Main Street Deli in Anoka and he was a regular customer, one of a group of seasoned gents who solved the world's crises over morning coffee.
Now, the Main Street Deli in Anoka is gone. Volk, 59, who was working two other jobs at the time, couldn't make ends meet and was forced to close up shop. She says she had to file for bankruptcy to avoid losing her home. Then she left that house -- temporarily -- and moved to Vernon Center, in central New York state, to care for a dying uncle and, after that, for her dying mother.
Now that she's back in Anoka, and is able to occasionally see the man who received her kidney, you have to wonder who was luckier, Heins or Volk?
Heins, 61, who relied on crutches for years before the transplant, walks up to four miles per day on his two new legs. He plays golf. He lost 20 pounds. He's not sure if he ever wants to retire from his insurance business.
"There's nothing I can't do," he said. "Retire? I'm just getting started."