In the United States, about 6,000 people become living kidney donors each year. Most donate to someone they know, like a spouse, sibling, parent, child, or close friend. Only a small number choose to donate to a complete stranger.
Jeff was one of them.
Before deciding to donate a kidney, Jeff knew very little about kidney disease or living donation. What he did know was that he wanted to do something meaningful in honor of a little boy whose life had been cut short.
Years earlier, Jeff’s close friend, Kara, had been a foster mother to two young children. For two and a half years, she raised a newborn baby boy named Anthony and his 3 year old sister. Kara was the only mother Anthony had ever known. Despite years in the pre-adoption stage, the children were court-ordered into reunification when the birth mother regained custody.
The loss was devastating.
Looking for a fresh start, Kara moved to Cornelius, North Carolina, where she later met Jeff. In December of 2022, she searched for her children’s birth mother online and discovered that Anthony had been murdered and the woman was in jail awaiting trial. In August of 2025, after a lengthy legal process, the woman was found guilty on all murder charges and later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. For two years, Kara had carried the weight of the case, waiting for justice before she could begin to move forward.
The afternoon the guilty verdict was announced, Kara texted Jeff with the news. On his drive home from work, he noticed a billboard he had passed hundreds of times before but had never truly seen.
“I never really saw it until that day,” Jeff said. “I think it was because my heart was more open after getting the news.”
The billboard featured a young man, about 30 years old, asking for a kidney donor to save his life.
“I thought about how desperate he and his family must have been to put his face on a billboard,” Jeff said. “For some reason, it reminded me of Anthony. I had never met him, but I keep a picture of him on my refrigerator. In that moment, it just clicked. I was going to give a kidney to that guy in Anthony’s honor.”
That evening, Jeff spent three hours researching living kidney donation. He read about the qualifications, the evaluation process, and how often people choose to donate.
“What I learned is that no, it’s not common,” Jeff said. “Very few people donate to someone they don’t know. I emailed the National Kidney Registry and two different hospitals that night. The registry got back to me, and that’s when I really started learning about the process.”
Jeff reached out to Frank, the man from the billboard, and the two met for lunch.
After spending time with him, Jeff realized how wrong his assumptions about kidney disease had been.
“He had 1% kidney function, but he was active and didn’t drink,” Jeff said. “I realized kidney disease isn’t always the result of someone’s lifestyle. A lot of people are simply born with conditions that lead to kidney failure.”
Jeff decided to move forward with the evaluation process to donate directly to Frank. After months of testing, however, he learned they were not a match. The hospital asked if he would consider donating to someone else. Jeff immediately said yes. Despite this, Jeff never heard from them again. But he wasn’t ready to give up.
“After that, I literally Googled the nearest place to donate a kidney,” he said. “I cold-called and emailed Atrium Health in Winston-Salem.”
It took three phone calls before Jeff finally got through to a nurse coordinator named Colleen.
“I told her, ‘Colleen, listen. I’m 50, no kids, few relatives, and don’t need the National Kidney Registry benefits.” I just want to help someone right now, or as soon as possible, with this gift.'”
That’s when she understood what he was asking.
“She said, ‘Okay, you want us to look in our database and find you a match that can be done as soon as possible?’ I said, ‘Yep. That’s it.'”
The match they found was Damon, a 50-year-old single father who had tragically lost the mother of his child a few years back. Despite being an active soccer player well into his 40s, his kidney disease had come out of nowhere. Doctors told him that without medication and dialysis, he likely had only a few years to live.
Before the transplant, Damon was asked whether he wanted to meet the anonymous person donating a kidney to him.
“Why would I not want to meet the person who saved my life,” said Damon. “Are you kidding me?!”
On January 29, Jeff donated his kidney. The next day, the two men met for the first time in the hospital.
“We spent about an hour together,” Jeff said. “His parents were there. His sister was there. My best friend from college came to visit, and Kara was with me.”
During the visit, Kara shared Anthony’s story, bringing everyone in the room to tears. Jeff also learned that Damon had lost his brother to gun violence just a few years earlier. Although their stories were different, they all understood loss.
“Damon’s friend, Josh, told me they had a nickname for me months before they ever met me,” Jeff said with a laugh. “‘Batman.’ And he still calls me Batman.”
Since that first meeting, Jeff has visited Damon’s home and met his 10-year-old daughter, who proudly introduced him as the man who “saved my dad’s life.”
Today, Damon is thriving. Although his recovery had a difficult start, he said he felt better almost immediately after the transplant. He is no longer dependent on dialysis and has been given the chance to be present for the moments that matter most with his daughter.
“If you could meet someone like Damon, I think you would instantly check that box on your driver’s license to be a donor,” said Jeff. “You can give someone another 10 years of life with a deceased kidney, and about 20 more years of life with a living one. What a gift. Whether it’s living donation or donation after death, all I can really say is—why would you not?”
What began as a desire to honor a little boy’s life became a gift that saved another person’s. For Jeff, becoming a living kidney donor has changed the way he sees the world.
“It makes you feel like a more complete person when you give something of your physical self to someone,” said Jeff. “It’s a whole new way of showing love and receiving love.”
Over 100,000 people in the United States are waiting for a lifesaving transplant. Whether you choose to be a living donor or a donor after death, you can make a difference. Sign up to be an organ, eye, and tissue donor today at honorbridge.org/registerme