His name is Andrew Onifad, but to those who listened to him on Mix 92.3, he was simply Mista Chase. He was known for uplifting those who listened to him with his upbeat personality. Many enjoyed the advice he would give callers based in part on their Zodiac sign.
His advice changed Arica Hankins life.
“He just gave me that pep talk and got me in the position where I wanted better than what I had,” said Arica.
She says she left a bad relationship and met her soulmate. They now are married.
She never imagined from listening to Mista Chase on-air, that for years - he has been fighting for his life.
“I suffer from stage 5 renal kidney failure,” said Mr. Chase.
He told his story in a Facebook post in December. When he wasn’t at work his life revolved around dialysis. He encouraged people to consider becoming organ donors.
“I had to be hooked up to a machine from 7pm to 4am in the morning. Just hooked up with a catheter into my stomach. Alarms would go off. There would be vomiting. And I still had to make it to work to do my radio shift,” he said.
Arica Hankins and her husband Jason heard Mista Chase’s story. They couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“He is a strong individual. He has this golden voice and this big personality and no one knew what he was going through,” said Jason. “But it didn’t stop him getting up everyday and being grateful to see another day.”
Jason says a thought kept entering his mind. He called Arica and told her what he was considering.
“I have two. He can have one,” said Jason.
On September 20th Jason Hankins is scheduled to donate his kidney to Mista Chase.
The surgery comes as both face change. Mista Chase was let go in June from Mix 92.3. As he prepared for the transplant he says the station told him they were heading in a different direction.
In the meantime - Jason and Arica are in the process of adopting two boys they recently began fostering.
“From them having so much heartbreak and seeing negative, I am happy they are here at this time so they can see the good in people. They see their new dad giving life to someone,” said Arica.
“I call him my angel. His words sounded angelic to me. He was like, why wouldn’t I help?” said Mr. Chase.
Mista Chase has created a GoFundMe account to help him and his donor pay bills as they recover from the surgery. If you would like to donate, click here.
