From 2 to 1

A kidney packed in a cardboard box! The box contained a plain old Styrofoam cooler containing our granddaughter Shelby’s left kidney. Medical staff transported the boxed kidney to the Atlanta airport where it was placed on a Delta flight to Seattle.

Our family has learned a lot about transplants during this experience, and one of those things is that when a commercial aircraft has a transplant organ on board, that plane has priority to depart. That’s a big thing at Atlanta’s airport—the busiest airport in the world.

Shelby’s surgery was faster than we expected. After an hour and a half of waiting, Jeremy, Cheryl, and I went for coffee and tea at Panera’s near the surgery waiting room. Just as we were served, Kimberly called to tell us that the surgery was finished, and Shelby was being moved to recovery. We had expected the surgery to take longer, but we were relieved that it was over.

Our prayer attention turned to the safe delivery of the kidney to the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, and to Maggi as she was preparing for her surgery.

After a short stay in the recovery room, Shelby was moved to a regular room. When Shelby was being prepped for surgery, she posed for a photo holding up 2 fingers. After she was moved from recovery to a regular room, she posed for another photo holding up one finger. Shelby posted the two photos on social media with the caption “From 2 kidneys to 1.” Shelby had a huge smile on her face in each of the photos.

Shelby’s parents were in regular contact with Maggi’s family, so we were notified later that afternoon when they began to get Maggi ready for surgery. Thus, we knew that the kidney had safely arrived.

Finally, ten hours after Shelby’s surgery, Maggi’s surgery began. Her time in surgery was much longer, but the great news that was relayed to us was that Shelby’s kidney began to fully function even before the surgical team began to sew Maggi up. We were elated to hear this report and we all praised the Lord for this whole experience.

Shelby was able to go home on Thursday. Maggi will be in the hospital for 2 more days. As predicted, the first 24 hours for Maggi would be fairly easy, but the next 48 hours would be rough with a lot of pain to manage. The prayers of many people are sustaining Maggi with her new kidney and helping Shelby heal, and these prayers will continue to cover Maggi as her body fully accepts the new organ.

This whole experience has been one to remind us of how God ordains people to be in the right place and at the right time. He brought Shelby and Maggi together in London 17 years ago knowing that Maggi would need a kidney and knowing that Shelby would be obedient to Him in her willingness to give a kidney and new life to Maggi.

Isn’t it great how God designed our bodies with two kidneys? It is like God knew that a few people would at some point in time want to be generous enough to donate a kidney to someone in need.