Ed Whitacre didn’t dare open his biggest Christmas present.

He was happy to leave his freshly transplanted kidney just where it was.

With the help of friend Patty Larger, one of three donors in a chain that stretched from Springfield to Philadelphia to Houston, Texas, Whitacre on Dec. 18 received a kidney that let him turn off the home dialysis machine that for the past two years has filtered his blood and kept him alive.

He returned home from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Dec. 23, in time to celebrate the holiday.

“I’m feeling real good,” said Whitacre, 62, whose first meal on a now largely unrestricted diet was a bowl of Cheerios. “I can’t thank Patty enough.”

“It was great, it was amazing,” said Larger, 52, who came home Dec. 20, just two days after the laparoscopic procedure that removed one of her kidneys for donation. “The surgery for me was not bad at all.”

“We do know the person who got my kidney is doing very well,” she said.

“I feel really honored,” Larger added. “First responders get to save people’s lives, but to be able to save at least one life” was a pleasure.

Larger learned of Whitacre’s kidney failure, caused by incurable polycystic kidney disease, because she works with his wife, Shirley, at St. Raphael/St. Joseph Church.

“We were so scared and nervous,” said Mrs. Whitacre, who will celebrate her 43rd wedding anniversary with her husband in January. “It went so great. And they are wonderful” at the medical center.

On the same surgical floor, Larger and Mr. Whitacre had contact during their stays.

After Larger’s surgery early Dec. 18, her kidney was flown to Philadelphia for transplant, while a kidney donated there was flown to Houston. A kidney from Houston then was flown to Columbus and arrived about 4 p.m. for transplant into Whitacre.

The donation chain was necessary because none of the donors had blood types that matched their friends’ but did have blood types compatible with the other recipients whose friends also were donating on their behalf.

The Whitacres said that after what seemed a long day of waiting, events sped up once the kidney arrived.

“It was almost like something out of M*A*S*H*,” the television series about field hospitals in the Korean War, Mrs. Larger said.

The fast pace continued when Mr. Whitacre’s surgery lasted about two and a half hours, rather than the four-plus hours they were told to expect.

The next morning, the Whitacres were surprised with a card from his direct donor, Kathleen Coble of Houston, Texas.

“Blessings,” the card began. “We pray that my little kidney loves its new home and brings you many years of health and happiness.”

Larger was surprised at the number of messages she received from the digital world.

“Because of Facebook,” she has heard from “a wide array of people,” she said. “It’s pretty overwhelming to know how the word has spread and … what a difference it might make.”

She said a 5-year-old grandson is already looking forward to the day when others in his family can donate.

To lessen the chance that his body will reject his new kidney, Mr. Whitacre is taking drugs to suppress his immune system and for the time being must avoid crowds and their risk of infection.

“One of the things I don’t miss is being hooked up to that (dialysis) machine at night,” he said. “After two years, that is really different.”

For Shirley Whitacre, the most striking difference has been how much better her husband seems to be feeling. And shedding the worry she’s been carrying? That hasn’t hurt a bit, either.