“My sister-in-law, Sandra Simmons, was always great to help me get to and from my dialysis treatments. Well, one day she picked me up, and when we got in the car she said, ‘I’m ready to give you that kidney.’
“It was a blessing, and it couldn’t have come at a better time because UAB Dr. Jayme Locke told my wife later that, if the kidney had been even a few more months in coming, she might not have been able to do the transplant.
“Now people have a hard time believing that my kidneys had failed from diabetes and I had been on dialysis for five years. When I was on dialysis, I always had a grayish tint to my skin. Now I look better, and I feel better. It has been just one blessing from the good Lord after another.
“We came down to the ‘Celebration of Life’ they had a while back for those who have participated in the UAB Kidney Chain, and it was wonderful. It’s like we were all part of one big family.
“The living donors there have given kidney patients and those on dialysis a new life, but I’m not sure we can ever tell them how much that means to us. That is what my sister-in-law and my donor, Renona Seibert, have done for me, and there is no way I could ever put a dollar amount on that gift. It is truly priceless.
“Renona is an upbeat, energetic person who likes to laugh and cut up just like me. Before she donated her kidney to me, she named it ‘Ruby’ and even had a going away party for it. So, I’ll call her up sometimes just to let her know that ‘Ruby’ and I are OK, and we talk and joke like we have been friends forever. I tell her that she’s got me and ‘Ruby’ for life, and it’s a life I would not have if she and Sandra had not cared enough to become living donors.
“I’ll never be able to thank them enough for what they did for me, but I hope they know how proud I am that we share this special bond. It’s like I always tell them, we may not be blood kin; but we’re kidney kin, and that’s definitely close enough for me.”