Retired, decorated Chicago firefighter finds kidney donor after story airs on ABC7: 'Moved to tears'

CHICAGO (WLS) — In February, the ABC7 I-Team met with Patrick McDermott, a retired Chicago firefighter in desperate need of a kidney.

Dozens of ABC7 viewers saw his story and reached out and volunteered to donate their kidney to save his life.

McDermott has now found a kidney donor.

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People from all over the country saw McDermott’s story and were determined to help.

The retired firefighter says a man in Arizona saw the story on social media and wanted to help save his life.

“When I found out, it shocked me,” McDermott said. “I was totally depressed. I felt my mortality. I felt there was nothing I could do but die.”

McDermott dedicated his life to the Chicago Fire Department, spending decades rescuing others.

“This was for saving three kids in a fire off-duty,” McDermott said while looking through his accolades. “They were seven floors up.”

But now, McDermott is the one who needs to be rescued. His kidneys are failing, and his wife and other relatives are not a match. So, he shared his story with ABC7, hoping someone would hear his call for help.

“I pray every night,” McDermott said. “We do two prayers every night, and it’s out of my hands. We have to give it to God.”

After the story aired, people from across the Chicago area and the country called and wrote in, wanting to give McDermott a kidney.

“I’m humbled by it. I’m moved to tears by it,” McDermott said. “The University of Chicago told me in one day they had 50 people call in.”

“I just didn’t know there were that many people that are still around that care about each other,” his wife Carol McDermott said. “Somebody willing to help you without you knowing them. That’s got to be something directly from God. That’s got to be.”

A man from Arizona saw the story on social media and reached out to the couple directly. He believed he would be the one to help McDermott.

He was already part of the National Kidney Registry’s Voucher Program and had signed up to become an altruistic kidney donor. That’s a person who donates their kidney to a stranger. Because he donated a kidney to someone else, he was then allowed to identify several other people to be prioritized for a living donor match, and McDermott made his list.

“What he has done is open the door for not only me to get a kidney, but maybe five other people to be moved to the top of the list,” McDermott said.

Weeks later, a living kidney donor was found for McDermott. ABC7 don’t know who that donor is yet, and neither do the McDermotts, but they are grateful to everyone who helped make this possible.

“ABC viewers, from a humble Chicago retired firefighter, thank you is not enough,” McDermott said.

McDermott’s kidney transplant surgery is scheduled for the end of the month at UChicago medicine.

ABC7 will be checking in with him and is wishing him a successful procedure.

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