USF Football Alum Runs Daily To Raise Awareness Of Father’s Kidney Transplant Need

TAMPA, FL — Christian Helms has spent the past 50 days running at least a mile each day.

This might not sound out of the ordinary for the former University of South Florida football player, a recent graduate.

But he’s not running to train for a football season, race or other sporting event; he’s running to help his 53-year-old father, Chris, find a kidney.

Helms, a Tampa native, began the daily runs as a way to raise awareness about his father’s battle with end-stage kidney disease and his need for a kidney transplant.

He’s partnered with LifeLink to encourage people to learn more about organ donation, including living kidney donation, documenting his runs and his family’s journey on social media.

Thursday marked a major moment in Helms’ campaign: his 50th day of running for his father’s health.

That day, he organized a special 1-mile run with his fiancée, Vivianne Bessette, a former USF soccer player and current defender for Tampa Bay Sun FC. The team joined the couple for the run at its practice facility.

“The whole thought process was, when I first started this, I wanted to do something to help get my dad's story out there because he needed a kidney, and we just weren't having people come forward to get tested,” Helms told Patch.

The athlete is using the platform and following he built through college football and social media to do something more than simply talk about his father's situation.

His solution was to commit to something difficult himself that could raise awareness of how organ donations can save lives, especially watching his father deal with dialysis and the effects of kidney disease every day.

Helms, a wide receiver, said he rarely ran more than 100 yards at a time during his playing career.

“So I was like, what if I go run every single day and do something I don't like to do that's hard for me?” he said.

Helms started documenting the runs on Instagram, sharing his father's story and information about organ donation.

What began as a personal effort now often includes runs with groups and organizations around Tampa, and his plans for his awareness campaign continue to grow.

“It's just progressively gotten bigger and bigger,” he said.

Helms, who played football at Seffner Christian Academy, initially joined USF’s team as a walk-on. He later earned an athletic scholarship and graduated from the university in December.

His father played an important role in his football journey, introducing him to the sport as a child and coaching him during his early years.

Chris was diagnosed with kidney disease around 2020, and his condition worsened the following year, when he began dialysis, his son said.

In 2022, Helms temporarily left the USF football program as his father's health declined, but returned after Alex Golesh became the Bulls' head coach.

During his final years at USF, Helms began using his platform to advocate for his father and organ donation. His work with LifeLink included social media videos, stadium content and other efforts to share the family's story.

Now, after his college football career has ended, Helms said he wants to continue using that platform to help others.

“I don't want to just be an influencer or a creator that's, you know, shallow, or doing things for money,” he said. “It’s also, like, leave a place better than you found it. I’m from Tampa; I care about this place. My family’s here. What can I do to establish myself as someone who’s seen as someone doing good things for people? Because people won’t remember you for how many touchdowns you school, how much money you get, or whatever. They’ll remember you by how you make them feel, and so that’s my ultimate goal.”

Helms said he has also been tested as a potential living kidney donor for his father but was not a match. His brother was also tested but was ultimately not approved.

Meanwhile, seven people have come forward to begin the process of becoming living donors for Chris, Helms said. Six are currently going through the process, while another person is expected to travel to Tampa for testing. Those interested in testing whether they’re a donor match for his father can find more information here.

Being tested doesn’t guarantee someone will ultimately be approved or become a donor, but Helms is encouraged that people are even willing to step forward.

He hopes the campaign will ultimately extend beyond his father's story and encourage more people to consider organ donation.

“It's not just for my dad,” he said. “A couple million people are dealing with the same disease.”

His 50th run is particularly meaningful because of the connection to Bessette and Tampa Bay Sun FC, which Helms described as a “second family.”

He plans to continue the daily runs for as long as necessary, and has some future community runs in the works, including a potential event at USF.

And he’s hoping that along the way he might find a match for his father. “The whole goal of this is to do it for the least amount of days possible,” Helms said. “We would rather get [a kidney] sooner than later.”