TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Every week of the regular hockey season, Tampa Bay 28 spotlights a Lightning fan who is doing the most to show up for the team.<\/p>\n
Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain has met so many amazing Lightning superfans, and mother-daughter duo Laura Whitstine and Brooke Herbert are no exception.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just fun. I mean, the whole atmosphere of Benchmark is just amazing. And, you know, there’s always something to do even before the games or after the games, and it’s just, it’s fun. It’s just what we do for fun now,\u201d said Brooke Herbert, the daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thank you for answering my request for a story because I thought it would be fun to share. I’m glad that you recognize that,\u201d said mother, Laura Whitstine, to Lauren St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe finally got called up to get our season tickets,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn’t realize there was such a waitlist,\u201d said Tampa Bay 28 anchor Lauren St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a wait list, and we couldn’t be on it for a little while because she wasn’t allowed to go to the games post-transplant,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Laura, tell me about your journey. When did your kidney issues begin?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn April of 2020, I had unregulated high blood pressure, which we found out later was the cause of the kidney failure,\u201d said Whitstine.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat ended up happening in the hospital?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey directly intubated me and put me into a drug-induced coma where they could dialysis my kidneys 24 hours a day, and they kept me like that for at least three days,\u201d said Whitstine.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, that was when we got the news that now she needs to start dialysis,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen did you decide I need to give my mom a kidney?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me on the phone, because I really wasn’t familiar with what dialysis was. We don\u2019t know anybody who was on dialysis. None of our other family members have been through it. So, they said, well, she’s going to go on dialysis, and ultimately, she’s going to need a kidney transplant. And I kind of knew from day one, like, if I can do this, this is something I want to do, because she’s my best friend,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat was your reaction when she told you all of this?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, okay, but I don’t think. I don’t know,\u201d said Whitstine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she told me no a couple times,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd what was it like the day that you found out you were a match and this was going to be able to work out?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not a crier, but I was sobbing. I was able to then call her and tell her, Hey, I just finally got the call. They green-lighted everything, and we have a date, and it was the best day ever,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the Lightning also played a really special role when you were on dialysis as well?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo she needed at least four days a week of dialysis. And because we were doing it at home, we had a lot of flexibility, as far as time. And the perfect distraction is watching hockey. So, we were able to time our dialysis sessions with, you know, watching the games,\u201d explained Herbert.<\/p>\n
She continued, \u201cThen it actually timed out pretty well that by the time she could start going to games again, they called us and said, Hey, you’re eligible for season tickets. Section 318, under the press box, kind of where there’s like a box up there, and we’re the second row above the box.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat are your favorite players?\u201d asked St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like Point, and I like Guentzel. I just can keep going. I love them all,\u201d said Whitstine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Headman. I love our captain, and, you know, I like Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the whole kit and caboodle basically,\u201d said St. Germain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is not a guy on the team we don\u2019t like,\u201d said Herbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, they’re just such a team,\u201d said Whitstine.<\/p>\n
Share Your Story with Lauren![](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LaurenStGermain.png\"\/)
Our health and our home are two things that impact our lives the most. And Tampa Bay 28 Anchor Lauren St. Germain is focused on both. From highlighting the latest medical breakthroughs to helping you navigate the housing market; Lauren wants to hear for you. Use the form below to send her a note.<\/p>\n
Contact Lauren St. Germain<\/p>\n
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Florida school speed zone cameras are ripping drivers off says local magistrate<\/p>\n
A Hillsborough County magistrate who spent months ruling on school speed zone camera cases is now blowing the whistle on Florida’s controversial new camera program.<\/p>\n
Florida school speed zone cameras ripping drivers off says county magistrate who ruled on hundreds of cases<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Every week of the regular hockey season, Tampa Bay 28 spotlights a Lightning fan who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5105],"tags":[2940,32356,37705,5,57200,189,17960,4,540,32946,92,5168,5167,7139],"class_list":["post-473710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-community","tag-daughter","tag-fan-zone","tag-hockey","tag-kidney-transplant","tag-lightning","tag-mother","tag-nhl","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-lightning","tag-tampabay","tag-tampabaylightning","tag-wfts"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116138977618715917","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}