Belmont Cameli, star of Prime Video’s Off Campus, donated a kidney that first aimed to help his childhood friend, then expanded into a swap program that ultimately helped seven patients—described by the actor in an Instagram post years later.
Before Belmont Cameli started playing Garrett Graham on Prime Video’s Off Campus. he was already living with the kind of choice that changes other people’s lives overnight.. Years before his breakout role. the actor volunteered to donate a kidney. only for the plan to evolve into something far bigger: a coordinated chain that led to seven recipients getting life-saving transplants.
Cameli volunteered to donate his kidney to his childhood friend Brendan Flaherty, who had gone into kidney failure and needed dialysis for 10 hours every day. But Cameli wasn’t a match.
That setback didn’t end the story.. Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago reportedly went back to the drawing board and found Brendan a match in Kimberly Cooper.. Yet the situation shifted again when they realized Belmont was also a match for another patient, 59-year-old Clotilde Ruiz.. Ruiz had planned to receive a kidney from her daughter, Daisy, but discovered they were incompatible.
Belmont agreed to donate his kidney to Clotilde anyway and underwent surgery days before he turned 20 years old.. From there, the swap kept moving.. Doctors then discovered Daisy was a perfect match for another patient. Scott Rial. and the exchange continued until a total of seven people received life-saving donations.
In February 2018. Cameli looked back on the experience in an Instagram post. writing: “Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity and privilege to save a life.” He added that while many people have two good kidneys. “thousands of people struggle to live day to day with only one failing kidney. ” noting that “every day. 20 people die waiting for a kidney transplant.”
He also shared the stakes of the waiting list: patients “average” 3.5 years before receiving a transplant, “and that is only IF they are so fortunate.”
Cameli continued. saying he was grateful that after “6 years of strenuous waiting and anticipation. ” Brendan had been “gifted the organ he has so long awaited. ” and that Clotilde would “finally have a healthy kidney and a fresh new start to life.” He described being part of “this swap program involving 14 people” and “blessing 7 patients with new organs and brighter futures. ” writing: “Soon my pain will disappear and my scars will fade away. but the love in my heart from this experience will forever remain.”
Now, with Cameli bringing Garrett Graham to life on screen, fans are also looking at the real-world heroism that existed long before the camera ever rolled. The acting credits are new. The impact, it turns out, already ran deeper than anyone expected.
Belmont Cameli Off Campus Prime Video Garrett Graham kidney donation kidney transplant swap program Northwestern Memorial Hospital Brendan Flaherty Clotilde Ruiz