Tampa Dad's 5-Year Kidney Fight Nears a Breakthrough, One Mile at a Time

A Tampa family's two-month search for a kidney donor has reached its most promising point yet. Christian Helms, a former USF wide receiver who has run at least one mile every day since Aug. 6 to draw attention to his father's need for a transplant, announced on Sept. 29 that a potential living donor had passed an initial round of testing at Tampa General Hospital.

Christian's father, Chris Helms, has battled kidney failure for five years. The family had already been through this hope-and-setback cycle once before: an earlier living donor who had been identified for Chris became medically ineligible, sending the search back to the start.

That setback is what pushed Christian to begin his "Running Until My Dad Gets a Kidney" challenge. He has documented a run of at least one mile almost every day since, posting the videos to social media in hopes that one of them would reach someone willing to get tested at TGH's living donor program.

"I'm going to do something hard every day because my Dad does something hard every day too," Christian said, explaining the thinking behind the challenge, according to his social media posts.

Two brothers, two rule-outs

Christian and his brother both stepped forward early on to be evaluated as potential donors themselves. Neither worked out. Christian was ruled out over blood type and antigen mismatches. His brother advanced further in the screening process but was ultimately found incompatible.

Those setbacks are part of why Christian kept running and kept posting. People across the Tampa Bay area have come forward to be screened through TGH's program after seeing his videos, and the search that once stalled at square one now has a candidate who has cleared the first hurdle.

What comes next

On Day 55 of the challenge, Christian said the testing "went about as well as you could have hoped for," but he was careful not to call it finished. "Still got a long way to go. Gotta go through a couple more tests to make sure, but things are looking extremely positive," he said, thanking the people who have followed along.

Kidney failure is a slow-moving crisis with a long waiting line behind it. More than 100,000 Americans are currently waiting for a kidney transplant, and roughly 17,000 transplants happen nationwide each year, according to the National Kidney Foundation. A living donor, someone who gives up one of their own two healthy kidneys, can move a patient off that waiting list entirely, which is why Christian's push to get more Tampa Bay residents screened matters beyond his own family.

Anyone curious whether they could be a living kidney donor can start the screening process through Tampa General Hospital's Transplant Institute. Christian has said that even people who can't donate can still help simply by sharing his family's story, since it's the sharing that has carried his videos to strangers willing to get tested.

There's no date yet for when the additional testing will wrap up or whether this particular donor will clear every remaining step. Until there's an answer, Christian says the run continues, one mile a day, exactly as he promised on Day 1.

Stay connected with more stories like this one through the Tampa Community Website, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates. Have thoughts on this story or know someone considering living donation? Join the conversation in our Community Forum, and find more healthcare stories and community spotlight features from around Tampa Bay.

Header photo: DanTD / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)