Fans of Los Angeles radio personality “Bean,” aka Gene Baxter, will have to make due without him on the air for a few weeks.
The non-Kevin Ryder half of the popular KROQ(FM) show “Kevin and Bean” — who broadcasts from his home in Seattle — announced on the show’s blog that he will be donating a kidney to friend Scott Mason.
Most recently, Mason was the head of engineering at KROQ. As Baxter explained, “Scott has had medical issues for much of his adult life, including his kidneys failing.”
Mason received a transplant from a cadaver more than 10 years ago, but that, too, failed, forcing him back onto dialysis.
“Scott visits once a year to do maintenance and upgrades on my studio equipment and it was during his most recent visit last spring that I noticed how unwell he looked,” Baxter wrote. “He explained his situation and that he was about six years out on the waiting list for a new kidney. That was inconceivable to me.”
Baxter writes that he’s a good donor candidate because he doesn’t smoke or eat meat and is in general good health. He will become a living kidney donor for his friend on Nov. 13 and encourages listeners and blog readers to learn more at the Cedars-Sinai’s Kidney Donor site.
“This decision was a no-brainer for me,” Baxter writes. “One of the things I’ve learned is that we have two kidneys and when one is removed the other one steps up and works harder so that instead of the expected 50% remaining function, I should have about 80%. Scott will go from nearly 0% to that same 80% and that will improve his quality of life dramatically.”
