By Michael Dukes
315th Airlift Wing
JOINT BASE CHARLESTON, S.C., March 26, 2014 – An Air Force
Reserve airman with the 315th Airlift Wing here did something to start the year
that she never imagined she'd be in a position to do: she saved someone's life.
By an interesting series of events, Master Sgt. Stephanie
Kimbrell, logistics plans craftsman with the 315th Logistics Readiness
Squadron, donated one of her kidneys to David Harvill, a public health
specialist with the 628th Medical Group here, who was suffering from stage 5
kidney disease.
Kimbrell said she was watching a television show in which
one of the characters experienced a kidney injury. The character had to have
one of her kidneys removed and was placed on dialysis.
"The fact that she could not get a friend or family
member to donate broke my heart," Kimbrell said. "I had no idea how
difficult it was for people with kidney disease.
"I got up from my show with tears running down my
face,” she continued, “and through a stuffy nose told God that if he needed my
kidney, I would give it up in his name -- that I wasn't afraid of donating it
to someone that I knew could use it."
Several months later, she called the Medical University of
South Carolina Transplant Center, but there was no answer. Frustrated, Kimbrell
said, she walked into the office of her boss, Air
Force Lt. Col. Bobby Degregorio, 315th LRS commander, and
told him how she felt she needed to donate her kidney to someone.
"Are you serious?" Degregorio said while raising
his eyebrows. "I literally just found out today that one of my friends who
works over in the Medical Group is dying and needs a kidney.”
Without hesitation, Kimbrell replied, "Let's do
it."
Degregorio told Harvill about the potentially good news, and
the process was set in motion.
"Periodically, Stephanie would email me, updating where
she was in the process," Harvill said. Although doctors told Kimbrell the
chances were one in a million for a perfect match, she remained confident. She
began the pre-donation testing and matching process to determine if she was
healthy enough and if she was a match.
Harvill said that he got a message to call Degregorio, who
told him excitedly, "'Super Dave, you're not going to believe this!
Stephanie is a match. You are getting your kidney."
"I was so overcome by emotions I was speechless and
broke down," Harvill said. "All I wanted to do was call Stephanie;
however, I had no phone number, as we had always emailed."
The date was scheduled for Jan. 22. Kimbrell and Harvill
decided to have a family get-together for dinner the night before surgery. That
night, they talked about how this all came about.
"I shared my story with them about how I felt God
wanted me to donate to someone, and when I knew Mr. Harvill was the one, I was
at complete peace about how this was going to go," Kimbrell said.
"We all cried, and Mr. Harvill shared how difficult his
life had been being on dialysis and knowing eventually he would succumb to this
disease if he didn't find a kidney," she said.
When she heard Havrill talk and cry about his ordeal,
Kimbrell said, she was deeply moved. "Then it suddenly hit me. … ‘Oh, man,
I am actually saving this man's life!" she added.
"I often thought about Stephanie and how special a
person she was -- willing to donate a kidney to a complete stranger,"
Harvill said. "In talking with the living donor transplant coordinator,
this doesn't occur as often as one might think. Most people receive a cadaver
kidney or know their donor."
The donation procedure was a complete success, and during
the recovery process at the hospital, Kimbrell and Harvill visited each other
daily. To date, Harvill said, both he and Kimbrell are doing well, and their
families contact each other regularly.
"I don't really think what I did was heroic. I kind of
feel like I was just being obedient to God and what he wanted," Kimbrell
said. "I see how I have changed Mr. Harvill's life, but what people don't
see is that he really changed my life for the better, too. He is a wonderful
person who I now have the privilege of calling family."
"To this day, neither I nor my family can do enough to
repay Stephanie for her unselfish act of giving me, a complete stranger, a new
kidney and the 'gift of life,'" Harvill said. "How many of you could
do what she has done? Could you actually give a complete stranger a
kidney?"
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