While working from home in December of 2021, Dave Hoffman received an email from a fellow parishioner at St. Hubert in Chanhassen, Amy Gravely, regarding her husband, Brian, who was experiencing kidney failure and needed a donation.
“They were preparing for 2022 to be Brian’s last year,” Hoffman told “Practicing Catholic” host Patrick Conley in a program set to air at 9 p.m. March 7 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM. The email included a link to the Mayo Clinic kidney donor website. Hoffman thought about it for three days. While getting ready for Mass, he said a quick prayer asking for the Lord to be clear about whether he should donate his kidney.
“I remember where we sat,” Hoffman said. “Whenever the Lord has reached out to me in a way and I made a connection, I always remember exactly where I was. We were in the back of the church, kind of near the crying room, and the only other thing I remember is the start of the Gospel where the people are asking St. John the Baptist, ‘What should we do?’ And he replied that whoever has two cloaks should share with the person who has none. And I thought immediately of Brian. He has no kidneys. I have two kidneys.”
Hoffman again felt contacted by the Lord during Mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul on the feast of St. Joseph. He felt the homily spoke directly to him.
“The Lord’s calling us to trust, and we don’t know what’s going to happen, but we are going to surrender to his plan, and we were both on board,” Hoffman said of he and his wife, Shelley. “The next day I emailed Amy, and I said, ‘Does Brian still need a kidney?’”
During the difficult testing process Hoffman said he prayed in sobs and confusion because he was considered unable to donate due to high levels of creatine in his kidneys. But after further testing, the decision was reversed, and Hoffman was approved.
On June 13, 2022, the transplant surgery occurred successfully.
To hear more from Hoffman about how he came to donate a kidney to a fellow parishioner, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. March 8 and 2 p.m. March 9.
As part of the program, Halina Imsdahl shares how her career as the assistant principal at Epiphany Catholic School in Coon Rapids impacts the students. Also, Father Jim Livingston, pastor of St. Paul in Ham Lake, shares the importance of fasting, especially during Lent.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, “Practicing Catholic” can be heard after it has aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
