07/15/2026
The biggest addition to our Celebrity Wall ever!
David Lloyd visited Santa’s Candy Castle this past weekend & we are incredibly honored to be adding this photo of him to our Celebrity Wall.
But only temporarily. That’s right, as eager as we are to put this photo up, we’re even more eager to take it down as soon as we possibly can. The sooner the better.
Confused? Well, please read on…
This past Saturday we were extremely busy at Santa’s Candy Castle. July Saturdays are normally pretty busy anyway, but it was busier than usual & we were short-handed. We hate to make our guests wait, so it was an extremely hectic & stressful time for our staff.
And then we met David.
From the moment we first interacted with David, we immediately sensed that there was something different about him, something very special. In the midst of a chaotic time, he spoke to everyone he encountered with extraordinary kindness and politeness. Despite longer than usual wait times, David was not only very patient, he was incredibly complimentary of our staff. He made sure that we knew that we were doing a great job and that we were appreciated. And it wasn’t just lip service – we could truly FEEL his sincere appreciation. If you’ve ever worked food service or retail during an extended rush when you’re short-handed, you know how stressful it can be. And you also know that a kind word or even the tiniest of compliments from a guest goes a long way. David’s profound kindness single-handedly rejuvenated our staff at a time when we needed it most. David is one of the most thoughtful and genuine human beings that we’ve ever met.
In the middle of our wonderful interaction with David, he very humbly and politely asked if we might have some tape he could borrow. He was extremely appreciative when we found some. He then hurriedly reached under his shirt, doing his best to discretely secure some sort of medical tubing. We weren’t sure what David was dealing with, but we knew it must be something pretty serious. Yet David took it all in stride. Even while taking care of whatever the issue was, he continued politely talking with us as if it was nothing. Whatever challenges David was struggling with, he was handling it with exceptional grace and positivity. We found his resilience to be extraordinary.
Things eventually began to slow down a little at the castle, and we had a little more time to talk with David & the rest of his wonderful family. As we talked, we began to learn the totality of David’s incredible struggle and the dire situation that he is in.
When David was 18 years old, he suffered from a severe case of pancreatitis that was misdiagnosed for far too long. By the time it was found, both of David’s kidneys were permanently scarred. The tubing that David had been struggling with is a surgically placed peritoneal dialysis catheter, that is used in the dialysis that David currently undergoes for 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.
David has end stage kidney failure and needs a kidney transplant to save his life.
Until a donor is found, this photo of David will hang on our Celebrity Wall, along with a plea for all of our guests to consider being the hero that saves his life. Once that hero has been found, we will take this photo of him down. We will replace it with a new photo of David and the hero that saved his life. That day will be the greatest day in the 90+ year history of Santa’s Candy Castle.
Please help us make that day possible.
We are calling on our incredible legion of fans to come together to help David. We are asking each & every person reading this post to do 3 simple things that will only take a few minutes:
1) Please spend a moment imagining that one of your family members - your child, your sibling, your parent – is in David’s situation. Imagine being desperate for a miracle to save their life.
2) Please spend a few moments thinking about & praying about the possibility that you might be the person that is being called to save David’s life.
3) Please like & share this post so that it can reach as many people as possible. This simple step might be directly responsible for finding the person who saves David’s life.
To learn more about David, please visit Ragadave's Kidney Quest.
To learn more about living kidney donation, please contact Breanna Bronson at The Christ Hospital at (513) 585-1427 or [email protected]. Based on programs in place, donors do not need to live near David, and all costs for testing & surgery are covered by his insurance.
Thank you all in advance for your efforts to help save David's life.
