Friendship sparked by football now includes kidney transplant
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Rebecca Colantuno's and Chad Watkins' friendship started with a football rivalry. Now it includes a kidney transplant at Einstein Medical Center. This year's Thanksgiving will be a celebration of life for the two.
"We're ordering out," Colantuno said. "We're not doing the traditional Thanksgiving fare."
Colantuno and Watkins and their families will be having a special kind of Thanksgiving.
"I've always loved her," Watkins said, "but this is a deeper bond now."
Their friendship started years ago, sparked by football.
"She walked in the gym with her T-shirt on," Watkins said. "I start harassing her about the Auburn T-shirt and friends ever since."
Watkins is a lifelong Alabama fan; Colantuno is an Auburn alum. The two universities have a fierce rivalry with a celebrated game.
"The Iron Bowl is Saturday," Colantuno said. "It is two days after Thanksgiving."
This fun friendship took a serious turn when Watkins need a kidney transplant.
Colantuno says once she learned she was a match, it was an easy decision for her and her family.
"There was never a second thought of should I?" Colantuno said. "It was just, I have it, he needs it, OK."
"I was overwhelmed," Watkins said. "I was taken back because it's not like asking for 20-30 bucks, you're asking for an organ and it's something that you could never repay."
"I feel very blessed and lucky to have been able to help Chad," Colantuno said. "I feel like this was just how things were supposed to be."
The transplant happened in July at Einstein Medical Center.
"I'm completely fine," Colantuno said. "I completed the Chicago Marathon on October, 10 weeks post-surgery."
"I feel great, this is like a 180," Watkins said. "Things I used to be able to do, I can do again."
A friendship that turned life-saving. There's much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving for the two.
"People always celebrate without knowing what they're celebrating," Watkins said. "And I got the gift of life, so no better person to share it with that day than her."
Colantuno and Watkins and their spouses and kids will all be together for Thanksgiving. Then on Saturday, they'll be rooting against each other in the Iron Bowl, which will air on CBS3 at 2:30 p.m.
Doctors say healthy people like Colantuno can safely donate a kidney and live with just one without jeopardizing their health.
