Absentee Father Shows Up Big Man, Currently Serving Jail Time, Donates Kidney To Daughter

Hoping to become “the daddy I should have been a long time ago,” David Patterson left his jail cell and donated a lifesaving kidney Tuesday to the daughter he deserted before she was born.

Patterson, a convicted burglar, met with Renada Daniel-Patterson briefly before the transplant operation. They had met only twice before, once when Renada was too young to remember and a second time when she was 8.

“Thank you very much for giving me a chance. I love you,” Renada, now 13, said through tears.

The two were operated on for about three hours at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center. Renada later was listed in stable condition and her father was doing well, said Dr. Anthony Portale, a pediatric kidney specialist.

“The surgery went very well both for her and the donor,” Portale said. He added that it will take weeks and possibly months before it is known whether Renada’s body accepts the kidney.

Renada was born with one kidney that failed when she was 5. She got a new kidney that year, but her body rejected it a year later. Her mother couldn’t donate one of hers because she is diabetic, and no suitable matches were found.

Renada was on dialysis three times a week but had been getting sicker in recent months.

Patterson, 34, had known for years that his daughter needed a new organ, but he was never asked to donate. In November, he wrote to offer one of his kidneys: “If you can forgive me, I will do my best to be the daddy I should have been a long time ago.”

Renada’s mother, Vickie Daniel, 35, said, “He’s definitely been a nonpresence, no-help kind of person.” She added, however, that by donating the kidney “he’ll make a difference.” She and Patterson never married.

The Corrections Department at first demanded Renada’s family pay the $8,000 bill for two armed guards to watch Patterson. The agency relented after learning the girl’s condition was life-threatening and her family couldn’t afford it.

After Renada recovers from the surgery - and assuming the transplant is successful - she wants to attend school with her friends instead of the in-home education she’s been getting because she is confined to the house.

She also wants to sleep over at her best friend’s house and swim.

“He must be a good person if he’s going to do this because other people wouldn’t do this,” she said of her father.