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North Carolina's Jason Adamo Hosts An Event This Weekend After His Life Saving Kidney Transplant Exchange · The Erica Show

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  Speaker 1: G105, it's the Erica Show. Longtime friend of the station.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: My family is obsessed with this guy, Jason Adamo, who
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  Speaker 1: many of you have seen, heard, performed his album. He's incredible.
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  Speaker 1: But you had a life-changing experience three years ago, and
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  Speaker 1: you had a kidney transplant. You are honoring this at
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  Speaker 1: an event this weekend because it's very near and dear
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  Speaker 1: to you, obviously. Those kidney donations are life-saving. So how
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  Speaker 1: are you?
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  Speaker 2: They are. I'm doing well, and I did have a
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  Speaker 2: transplant Three years ago, as of August 16th, in the
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  Speaker 2: last couple of years, we put together this benefit for
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  Speaker 2: the Alliance for a Paired Community Donation. We held it
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  Speaker 2: around the anniversary of my transplant until we realized after
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  Speaker 2: two years that it's just too darn hot in August.
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  Speaker 1: It is.
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  Speaker 2: I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: October is hot right now. It's like 90 degrees almost.
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  Speaker 2: Right now it's 91 degrees outside. Yeah. Hopefully this Saturday
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  Speaker 2: it'll cool down a little bit. We're going to be
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  Speaker 2: in the parking lot of DeFera Pizza in downtown Cary.
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  Speaker 2: The owners there, Greg and Valerie Norton.
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  Speaker 1: It's delicious. We love going over there. It's so good.
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  Speaker 2: It's so good. I mean, I would just go there
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  Speaker 2: for the pizza. Sometimes I'll play music there, and I
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  Speaker 2: would just get paid in pizza, but they're nice enough
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  Speaker 2: to pay me as well to perform music there every
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  Speaker 2: once in a while. But they've been my partners in
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  Speaker 2: this benefit show for the last three years, and we're
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  Speaker 2: doing it again this Saturday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.,
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  Speaker 2: and we've got a whole bunch of great artists lined
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  Speaker 2: up for it.
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  Speaker 1: So you got Rich Richards, Julie McKnight. Of course, you're
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  Speaker 1: going to be there, Jack the Radio. Javier Colon, season
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  Speaker 1: one winner of The Voice.
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  Speaker 2: That's Javier, yeah. I met him at a festival I
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  Speaker 2: played back in May. And I'm not sure if you remember,
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  Speaker 2: but when he was on The Voice, his backstory involved
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  Speaker 2: kidney issues growing up. So we kind of bonded over that,
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  Speaker 2: and I invited him to be a part of this,
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  Speaker 2: and he said he'd love to be a part of it.
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  Speaker 2: So he's a phenomenal– I mean, you have to be
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  Speaker 2: a really good singer to win The Voice, but he's
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  Speaker 2: a phenomenal talent. Great songwriter as well. And I'm just
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  Speaker 2: super happy that he's going to be a part of this.
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  Speaker 2: All the proceeds from Saturday go to the Alliance Repair
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  Speaker 2: Community Nation. And I literally wouldn't be here without them.
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  Speaker 2: They used their Nobel Prize winning algorithm to match people
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  Speaker 2: like myself and my then live donor, Jenna, who wanted
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  Speaker 2: to donate to me, but she wasn't able. It was
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  Speaker 2: not a good match. And we went into their algorithm,
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  Speaker 2: and it turned out to be a sick surgery algorithm.
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  Speaker 2: kidney exchange with three people's lives being saved because of
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  Speaker 2: people like jenna so.
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  Speaker 1: Okay that gives me chills you make i'm since i
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  Speaker 1: know you've probably cried a lot over the years in
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  Speaker 1: your family too oh.
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  Speaker 2: I appreciate that well you know the story gets even
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  Speaker 2: better jenna gave me a kidney and uh lisa my
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  Speaker 2: wife matched her up with her now husband rob so
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  Speaker 2: oh what a full circle we gave her a husband.
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  Speaker 1: So And I remember this like three years ago and
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  Speaker 1: seeing you on social and you sharing your story because
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  Speaker 1: it was very, you know, publicized. Everybody knew about it
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  Speaker 1: and they were rooting for you. But how long did
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  Speaker 1: it take for you to get your kidney like match?
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  Speaker 2: So we were matched in 2021. And unfortunately, in April
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  Speaker 2: of 2023, Duke Hospital found an antibody that would reject
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  Speaker 2: Jenna's kidney. And we thought she was like a perfect
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  Speaker 2: match for a couple of years there. So It was
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  Speaker 2: devastating to say the least, but within three or four
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  Speaker 2: months of that bad news, the Alliance for Perikinia Donation
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  Speaker 2: were able to line up a transplant in August. So
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  Speaker 2: from April to August. I had to wait. When I
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  Speaker 2: got the bad news that week, she was not the
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  Speaker 2: best match for me after all.
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  Speaker 1: How long did it take until you finally got that surgery?
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  Speaker 2: That was actually in August. We were matched in July. Okay.
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  Speaker 2: My kidney ended up coming from a gentleman from Denmark,
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  Speaker 2: the country of Denmark.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: He and his best friend flew over to be a
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  Speaker 2: part of this surgery exchange.
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  Speaker 1: They match you out with anybody in the world that
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  Speaker 1: would fit to be the perfect donor.
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  Speaker 2: The Alliance, Perican InterNation, literally is a worldwide organization, and
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  Speaker 2: they have Mike Reese and his wife, Sue, they travel
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  Speaker 2: all over the world to try to help make these
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  Speaker 2: matches happen. And they're such a great organization. My donor,
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  Speaker 2: Jenna's kidney went to Denver. That person's loved one's kidney
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  Speaker 2: went to Michigan to these two best friends who I
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  Speaker 2: did not know at the time, but had flown over
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  Speaker 2: from Denmark to be a part of this. So all
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  Speaker 2: within 24 hours of six surgeries happening.
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  Speaker 1: I just have so many chills right now. That is
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  Speaker 1: so incredible. And, of course, this weekend, Jason's a good dude, y'all.
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  Speaker 1: Not only are you talented, but you're just good peeps.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody in the community knows you, and you've done a
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  Speaker 1: lot for our community. But it's Strums and Slices. It's
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  Speaker 1: right there in Cary. Cute location, delicious pizza, but live
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  Speaker 1: music from a lot of talented people.
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  Speaker 2: So it's local.
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  Speaker 1: $ 20 is a suggested donation. So very little out of pocket,
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  Speaker 1: but 100% of those proceeds are going to go and
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  Speaker 1: help a wonderful organization.
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  Speaker 2: And I really appreciate the support, Erica. It means a lot.