NEW YORK, June 15 (UPI) -- Call it a one-of-a-kind Father's Day gift turned upside down. A New York City man has donated a kidney to his ailing son, saving his life.
Ronald Burke, 55, made the sacrifice to help his son Leonard Burke, 32. The younger Burke was diagnosed with hypertension and kidney failure in 2008. He first received a transplant from his wife, Rhonda Burke, but that organ failed recently, necessitating another transplant, the New York Daily News said.
The fact that the younger Burke had two donors who were a perfect match in his immediate family is astonishing.
"Some matches are made in heaven," said Ernesto Molmenti, the North Shore University Hospital Center Transplant Center surgery director who handled their case.
"I didn't think twice" about the donation, the elder Burke said.
The family said it plans to celebrate Father's Day with three generations at their home in Queens with the Ronald, Leonard, Rhonda and the younger couple's baby daughter.
