Fifteen years ago, a polycystic kidney disease (PKD) diagnosis changed David and Pam’s lives. “My brother has it. My sister has it. And we know my son has it,” David says. “More than likely, everybody has it.” This genetic disease has affected multiple generations of his family, creating a lingering fear that his children might experience the same hardship. For David, the only alternative to a life on dialysis was a kidney transplant. With David’s father’s transplant experience only a few months past, they braced for what might come.*

A Hopeful Beginning and A Painful Wait

David remembers a pivotal date in their journey—September 26, 2012. “That’s when I got… the letter saying that I was put on the transplant list,” he says. The wait that followed was marked by uncertainty and anxiety. 

“We knew that people had gone to be tested,” Pam adds. “We didn’t know how many. We didn’t know who. We didn’t know if they were going to be a match.” Pam and David were suspended in a waiting game, hoping that somewhere, somehow, a match would be found. 

Meanwhile, the alternative was dialysis, with three-day-a-week, four-hour sessions. The couple clung to the possibility of a better solution, waiting for any word that might bring hope.

The Message That Changed Everything

On a Sunday evening, November 4th, Pam received an unexpected and anonymous text message: “Hey Pam. There’s something in your mailbox for you.” A thick, handwritten envelope awaited her. She opened it, noting the letter was unusually bulky and addressed to their entire family—David, Pam, Luke, and Abby. 

When she saw “Piedmont Hospital” at the top of one of the pages, her heart raced. As she read through the letter, she shared the pages with David, but it took multiple readings for the message to truly sink in: they had a match.

The letter was simple yet profound. It was a handwritten offer from a family friend, John. He wrote, “David, Pam, Luke and Abby… I wanted to make sure all the results were final before asking you this question. I have a 53-year-old kidney. Would you like to have it?” 

With those words, John had offered them the one thing they had desperately hoped for—a chance at life beyond dialysis, and without its limitations.

A Life of Gratitude and Newfound Family Bond

In a conversation with John the following night, Pam expressed her overwhelming gratitude. “There will never be a Christmas,” she told him, “or a Thanksgiving, or an Easter, a birthday, a Father’s Day, a graduation, a wedding, where we won’t forever be grateful.” 

John’s gift meant more than just a transplant; it meant a second chance at life for David. For their family, it was the promise of countless shared memories and milestones.

Reflecting on John’s generosity, Pam is overwhelmed. In offering his kidney, she says, John has given David the opportunity to continue as a husband, father, and friend without the need for dialysis, which can be as physically and emotionally burdensome as it is helpful. 

“What he’s willing to do, and what he’s done,” she says, “is keeping my husband and my children’s dad alive.”

*Piedmont Healthcare. (2024, March 26). David’s Kidiney Transplant Story | Piedmont Healthcare [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1h-qUmcQNU 

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