This Father's Day, a daughter is giving her dad a priceless gift -- a second chance at life.
Florida high school music teacher Ronald Corbin had been on a waiting list for a kidney transplant for three years when his daughter, Candice Corbin, contacted him with good news, according to ABC Palm Beach station WPBF.
After she grew tired of her father's waiting, she decided to take a test to see whether she could be a donor.
WPBF
"I didn't know she was getting tested," Ronald told WPBF. "She lives in New York, and she got tested up there, and one day she called me and said, 'Daddy I'm a match.'"
At the end of May, at Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, Candice donated a kidney to her father, who had been on dialysis since 2015.
Ronald said he never would have asked or expected his daughter to donate a kidney.
WPBF
"Wow, it's amazing -- it was beyond me to realize she would do this for me, but she's a great kid and I really love her," he said.
Both father and daughter are doing well after the surgery, WPBF reported. Ronald said he's recovering quickly, and Candice is back singing in New York.
"I'm just blessed to have you in my life," he told her. "Thank you and I love you."
Four new dads speak out about the joys of parenthood – and celebrate Father’s Day in style
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Shirt £250, stellamccartney.com, t-shirt £6, marksandspencer.com, trousers £465, Dries Van Noten mrporter.com, pumps £200, hope-sthlm.com, dress £35, arket.com All Stars £29, Converse schuh.com. Model: Andrew at The Squad Photograph: Alex Bramall for the Observer
Andrew MacGregor, 36, sustainable artist, and Imaya, two
How do you start the day with Imaya? In the morning, after breakfast, we always put the radio on and have a dance.
How did you choose Imaya’s name? Her aunt came up with it, and my aunt came up with mine. It seems to be a running theme. In Nigeria, Imaya means beautiful.
How has fatherhood changed? I think today we are much more hands-on. I don’t think my dad’s generation was expected to be as involved in daily life.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jason wears T-shirt £255, Dries Van Noten mrporter.com, trousers £119, albamclothing.com, sandals £60, birkenstock.com. Romari wears top £60, and T-shirt £55, both Caramel harrods.com. Kobe wears jacket £234, and printed shirt £103, both marni.com, Byrne fleece trousers £66, stellamccartney.com, trainers Kobe’s own. Models: Kobe and Romari at Kids London
Jason Elliot, 49, security officer, Kobe, four, and Romari, six months
What has been your proudest moment of being a dad? Their mum went through struggles while she was pregnant, so seeing them both born healthy – and cutting the umbilical cord was a special moment.
Where would you like to take the kids? I’d love to go to the Caribbean with them; to take them on holiday to a nice beach with good food.
How different is being a father today? Fatherhood itself hasn’t changed, the essence of the role is timeless. But the way we interact with our children has changed. We connect with them on a whole different level.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Damien wears shirt £760, Brioni, matchesfashion.com, T-shirt £5.99, hm.com, trousers £35, topman.com, sandals £39.99, zara.com. Damien’s son wears T-shirt £80, marni.com, trousers £80, Caramel selfridges.com. Model: Damien Francis at Premier Photograph: Alex Bramall for the Observer
Damien Francis, 39, ex-footballer turned model, and Damien, three
What made you choose the name Damien for your son? He’s my only son. I like my name so I wanted to give it to him.
What do you like about being a father? I like watching Damien become the person he is – and the person he is going to be.
Do you feel it’s important to raise emotionally aware boys? The emotional side of a boy is often overlooked. My son is a ball of energy from the moment he opens his eyes. But he also has a very loving side. You have to try to balance both aspects.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest T-shirt £320, and jeans £280, both JW Anderson matchesfashion.com, trainers £85, grenson.com, babygro £5.99, hm.com.
Model: Vitan at Models 1, Interviews: Bemi Shaw.
Hair and skincare: Rose Angus at S Management using Liz Earle and Kevin Murphy. Fashion assistant: Penny Chan Photograph: Alex Bramall for the Observer
Vitan Boyadzhiev, model and vintage car enthusiast, 26, and Mia, four months
What would be your perfect Father’s Day? It would be the three of us and our dog in my pink truck driving around and having fun.
What’s the best thing about becoming a dad? Having a routine. Before, I didn’t have one. I was modelling and travelling. Now it’s the total opposite. I like getting up at night and feeding her and then getting up in the morning and doing it all again.
What’s the most important thing you can teach Mia? That I will do my best for her and be there for her no matter what. I feel that a lot of people do not realise that being there is so important.
Though we’re thankful for Dad every day of the year, Father’s Day is an extra special occasion to celebrate his role in our lives. Ahead of the festivities on June 17, brush up on just why the third Sunday in June is dedicated to the dads who do it all.
It was inspired by a Civil War veteran ‘superdad’
Father's Day was dreamt up at the turn of the 20th century by Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Wash. Her widowed father, William Smart, raised his six children alone on a farm, and Smart Dodd believed that such exemplary fatherhood deserved celebration, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Father’s Day has been formally recognized in the U.S. for nearly 50 years
Though the occasion was first celebrated on June 19 in 1910, President Richard Nixon signed a proclamation in 1972 declaring the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day forevermore, History.com reports.
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But people have been honoring Dad much longer than that
Move over, Hallmark – people have been writing special notes to their fathers for thousands of years.
One of the earliest known cards dates back to roughly 4,000 years ago when Elmesu, a Babylonian youth, made a card out of clay to “wish his father good health and long life,” according to The Daily Meal.
It’s celebrated different days around the world
Father’s Day is celebrated on St. Joseph’s Day, March 19 in nations including Spain, Portugal, and Italy, the L.A. Times reports, making the celebrations just as diverse as the fathers being honored.
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There is an official flower
Though Mom is usually the one being presented florals for her special day, Father’s Day has its own official blooms too. According to the Times, a red rose can be worn on the lapel if one’s father is living, and a white rose is worn in his memory if he has passed away.
Fewer people are celebrating Father’s Day than ever before, a fact that may have less to do with the nature of the holiday than it does with the nature of American families.
A U.S. Census Bureau study found that the percentage of children living in single-parent households increased from 12 percent in 1960 to 31 percent in 2016. During that same timeframe, “the percentage of children living with only their mother nearly tripled.”
These numbers are sobering because according to recent studies, kids who lack an engaged father (and so may be less likely to observe Father’s Day) are also less likely to experience a healthy, contented, and successful life.
I had only celebrated a handful of Father’s Days with my kids when I first recognized this truth. I was assigned to our police department’s Gang Detail at the time, investigating young gang members in Los Angeles County.
Our city was culturally and ethnically diverse, but we had a gang problem that seemed to transcend ethnic, cultural, or socio-economic boundaries. The gang members we encountered were racially and ethnically diverse, representing local white, Hispanic, African-American and Asian-American gangs. They came from a variety of economic settings, from very wealthy neighborhoods to impoverished segments of our community.
As a young father myself, I wanted to understand what caused the young men and women in our community to become gang members in the first place. It certainly didn’t seem to have anything to do with their race, culture or economic status, given the fact that they didn’t share any of these attributes.
The more I got to know these young gang members, the better I understood their common dilemma: all of them suffered from “lack of dad.”
This “lack of dad” looked different for each gang member, depending on his or her situation. Some gang members had fathers who were uninvolved, alcoholic or “deadbeat” dads. Some never knew their fathers and were raised in single-parent households by their mothers or grandmothers.
Some were part of multigenerational gang families with fathers who had been incarcerated for most of their lives. Some simply had dads who worked obsessively and paid them little attention.
I repeatedly observed the same shared attributes in these gang members: They were struggling to find direction or establish a moral compass, largely because they didn’t have a father at home to model what it meant to be a man – or to be loved by one.
Many national studies have confirmed my own anecdotal observations. Fathers are essential to boys and girls.
Studies have repeatedly shown that children who are raised with involved fathers are less likely to struggle academically, repeat a grade, get expelled or suspended from school, and get pregnant as teenage girls.
Children with involved fathers are more likely to attend college, get a good job and stay out of jail.
Studies also show that kids raised without involved fathers are more likely to live in poverty, be abused or neglected, use drugs or alcohol and commit crimes.
Kids aren’t the only who benefit from engaged dads. Fatherhood also benefits fathers.
Researchers have recently discovered that fathers who are engaged with their kids are less likely to suffer from stress and depression and are more likely to have increased self-esteem, job and relationship satisfaction, and confidence in their parenting skills.
Fatherhood increases one’s competence in a number of important areas of character development, including the formation of patience, humility and selflessness.
My days as a Gang Detail officer taught me that every version of “lack of dad” is equally damaging; none is better (or worse) than any other.
My days as a father taught me much more about myself, my priorities and my role in the lives of my kids.
So, this year, as Americans spend far less time, energy and money celebrating Father’s Day than they do celebrating Mother’s Day, I’m determined to develop a renewed enthusiasm for the holiday and a renewed appreciation for the role of fathers.
