r Serve Daily first featured Cameron Mims and his dedicated mother Carrie Bradley in the January 2019 issue. Cameron is a fighter who has struggled with lifelong health problems and is in need of a kidney transplant. Cameron crossed one final hurdle to getting the transplant he needs when Fox 13 news’s Dream Team gifted the family with a new car and the final money needed to qualify for a transplant.
Carrie has worked hard at a local dry cleaner to support herself and her son and pay for his medical bills. In order to qualify Cameron for a transplant, she needs to have 3 months of salary saved up so she can stay home as his full-time nurse after his surgery. With mountains of medical bills and a car that was always breaking down, it seemed like an impossible task.
After receiving a referral from Carrie’s friend Jenny, and reading about the family in Serve Daily, Fox 13’s Dream Team decided to gift Carrie and Cameron with the money they needed to get him ready for a kidney transplant. They surprised Carrie at her work, Quality Dry Cleaners in Springville.
The Dream Team started their surprise by giving Carrie increasingly large tips at the dry cleaning window. At one point she asked a co-worker in disbelief if she was on Candid Camera. The Dream Team then came in the door and presented Carrie with 3 months of salary from Dream Team sponsors Smith’s Mountain America and Woodside Homes. Fox TV personality Big Budah made one more trip through the drive-through with a new car for a reliable way to make trips to Salt Lake for treatment.
Carrie is truly overwhelmed by the gift. “There’s not words to express it and yet I could go on for hours about what it means,” she said.
“It’s been the most incredible whirlwind,” she said. “You watch these things happen to people on TV and you never, ever, ever, ever think it’s going to happen to you.”
Carrie said this is the first time in years she hasn’t felt stressed and now she sees how it’s been affecting her health. The headaches and stomach pains have lifted. Cameron told her he’d never seen her this relaxed. “That’s what they’ve done for us.”
Cameron has been on dialysis for 8 years and yesterday got a call from the hospital caseworker saying they could come in to complete the application process for a kidney transplant. “It’s been years of battling to get that appointment and they took care of the last thing standing in the way,” Carrie said.
Thus far, Cameron looks like a good candidate for the surgery. The next step after getting the go-ahead will be beginning to test possible live donors. Donors will be tested 2 at a time beginning with close family members who are most likely to be a match. Once a donor is found, Cameron can have the life-saving surgery.
“I feel so blessed and so grateful,” Carrie said. The experience has increased her faith in God and in the community. “I wonder what it would be like if we could give everybody the basic necessities so no one would have to live in fear. What could we accomplish?” she said.
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