Best man's gift to groom: kidney donation

A man gave donated one of his own kidneys to his best friend, so his friend could get married this coming May, the Daily Mail reported.

Dan Flack, who lives in Basingstoke, UK, gave his friend Robert Baldwin one of his kidneys so Baldwin could get married and be present for the upcoming birth of his first child.  Flack, 27, will be the best man at Baldwin’s wedding.

“Dan and I have been best friends since childhood and he really is the greatest friend I could ask for,” Baldwin told the Daily Mail. “He was my natural choice to be a best man - but even I didn’t expect him to take his duty so seriously that he would give me his kidney so that I could get married and be a father.”

“It is the greatest gift that anyone could ever give, and I can never thank him enough,” Baldwin added.

Baldwin, 27, was diagnosed with kidney failure at 3 months old, according to the Daily Mail.  He managed the condition with medication until age 8, when he received his first kidney transplant from his father.

In March 2009, Baldwin began to suffer from fatigue and tests showed his kidney was failing.  He had to undergo dialysis treatment three times a week.

When he asked Flack to be the best man in his wedding, Flack returned with an offer of his own – his kidney.

‘Robert had asked Dan to be his best man, and when Dan came forward this offer, we were just so moved,” Baldwin’s mother Rosanna told the Daily Mail, “We couldn’t believe that he had offered his own kidney to help Robert. But they have always been so close, Dan just wanted to help Robert.

"He wanted to save his life, and help him still get married and have his baby. It was the ultimate sacrifice to help Robert have his life back.”

Click here to read more from the Daily Mail.