In October 2006, multiple-Emmy award winner Dale Wade Davis was diagnosed with a hereditary kidney disease. After more than 30 friends volunteered for testing as potential donors, the best match turned out to be Dale’s good friend Phillip Palmer, morning news anchor for ABC7 in Los Angeles.

Dale's Story

In October 2006, Dale Wade Davis was diagnosed with a hereditary kidney disease, IGA nepropathy. He was only 37 at the time and had been active professionally in broadcast television news.

Finding a viable kidney wasn’t quite as easy as it sounds. Dale was adopted at birth and has no known biological family (except for his daughters Hayley and Rebecca), which made the search for a matching kidney donor more difficult than most cases. Fortunately, Dale had more than 30 friends volunteer for testing as potential donors. The best match turned out to be Dale’s good friend and former co-worker, Phillip Palmer.

Because Palmer is the morning news anchor at KABC-TV in Los Angeles, their story was covered extensively by the local and national news media, including a live interview from the hospital with “Good Morning America.” It was picked up by the Associated Press and printed in many newspapers worldwide. The story resulted in more than 17,000 phone calls to NKFSC and over two dozen potential donor listings at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“With the support of The National Kidney Foundation of Southern California (NKFSC), St. Vincent's Medical Center, and Dr. James Wilson of UCLA, I went from diagnosis to transplant in less than five months,” said Dale, a multiple-Emmy award winning television broadcast journalist, actor and stand-up comedian.

“I am very happy that my story has helped even one person and will be working closely with NKFSC and others to change as many lives and help as many folks as possible,” said Dale.