He drove through a raging blizzard to save a man’s life!
With a blizzard shutting down airports, Lucas Baker had to drive a donor kidney 400-plus miles to the recipient. The roads were treacherous. But with a life on the line, Lucas refused to give up
T‘‘ his is going to work out,” 15-year-old Caleb told his dad, Jerry Bernal. “Hope so,” said Jerry, his eyes trained on the road as the December 2022 snowstorm intensif ied.
Jerry, his son and wife, Bena Hernandez, were on their way to a Bismarck, North Dakota, hospital. Jerry, 52, was in stage 5 kidney failure.
Every night, he prayed, “My family needs me. Please, God, send me a miracle.”
The call had come just hours ago. Now, as they drove, the sky was heavy with dark clouds— except a sun-brightened strip pointing right toward Bismarck.
“It’s an omen,” Bena insisted. “God’s telling you He’s sending you that miracle.”
Above and beyond
Meanwhile, M 500 miles away in Rochester, Minnesota, Lifesource driver Lucas Baker, charged with delivering Jerry’s lifesaving organ, climbed into his Lincoln Navigator. Normally, the kidney would have been f lown to its destination, but just before he made his pickup, the Minneapolis and Bismarck airports had been shut down due to weather. As Lucas set out on the normally 6-hour, over400-mile drive to Bismarck, the snowstorm had become a raging blizzard with 50 mph winds. “Uh-oh,” Lucas gulped when a radio report a announced they were closing I-94. He took the n next exit and used his GPS to f ind the nearest state h highway. The Navigator had four-wheel drive, but t the going was treacherous. Abandoned vehicles li lined the sides of the road. In South Dakota, a driver h had even left a car in the middle of a t wo-lane road. L Lucas gingerly steered off-road to get around it. But th the Navigator plowed to a stop in a snowbank and w wouldn’t budge.
“Tell the hospital I don’t know when I’m getting
there,” he called into Lifesource, then dialed 911.
When Stetson County Sheriff Deputy Mercedez Holzworth arrived and Lucas explained where he was headed, she immediately thought of her own sister, who had undergone four liver transplants during her too-short life.
Grabbing a shovel from her patrol car, she fought a 30-below windchill tr ying to dig Lucas out. But his wheels only spun. On her way, she’d called for a tow truck, which soon arrived and was f inally able to pull the Navigator free.
“I’ll be praying for you,” she told Lucas as he drove off.
Miracle delivery
Lucas decided to return to the interstate. The on-ramp gates were closed, but time was running out. If he didn’t reach Bismarck in time, the donor kidney would no longer be viable. So he crept around the gates. He’d gone about 10 miles when a different deputy stopped him.
“You’re not supposed to be out here,” he said.
Lucas tapped the container and explained.
“Th “Then you b best get going,” i ”hd the deputy waved him on. “There’s a snowplow about a mile ahead. You can follow that,” the deputy said. Lucas reached the plow and followed it for the last 100 miles.
After 16 hours on the road, Lucas f inally pulled into the hospital’s ER entrance. “You made it,” a group of nurses applauded, and later presented Lucas with a kidney-shaped pillow signed by every nurse in the hospital.
Jerry’s transplant was a success, and only after it was done did the surgeon share the heroics Lucas had demonstrated to make the transplant possible. “A donor kidney is only good for about 24 hours, and we completed your surgery with less than an hour to spare,” the doctor told Jerry and his family.
Bena and Caleb glanced at Jerry, who was already sitting up in bed. “I guess I got that miracle,” he said, a grateful smile on his face.
In just weeks, Jerry was back at work and taking Caleb to batting practice. Deputy Holzworth visited the Bernals, and the family got to meet Lucas via Zoom.
“We can never thank you enough,” Jerry told him. “Who knows how long it would have been before my next chance.”
“It was my pleasure,” says Lucas. “It’s a great feeling, carrying a donor organ, knowing it’s actually someone’s life, and I get to help save it.”
“It’s a great feeling, carrying a donor organ, knowing that I’m helping to save a life.”