Arkansas fire chief gives kidney to Granby teenager
(AP) An Arkansas fire chief has donated a kidney to a teenager he didn’t know. Maumelle Fire Chief Gerald Ezell tells KATV that the surgery took place Dec. 13, two days after he met 18-year-old Sidney Burnett of Granby, Missouri. Ezell said that he discovered Burnett was in need when he saw a Facebook post from her mother, an old school friend. He realized they had the same blood type. He says he felt God was telling him to “step across that line.”
Gerald is also a former Joplin and Diamond Firefighter!
Currently, 100,000 people in the United States are on the national transplant waiting list for a donor kidney. Every 10 minutes, another person is added to the national transplant waiting list — and 82% of patients waiting are in need of a kidney. On average, a living donor kidney can function anywhere between 12 to 20 years, and a deceased donor kidney can improve quality of life for 8 to 12 years.