Wayne Winters hit the streets to find a kidney donation for his dying wife, and was overwhelmed with help after a local Utah television station told his story.
Winters, 74, walked the streets of Farr West, Utah, wearing a sandwich board saying that he needed a kidney for his wife, Deanne, that included her blood type and a phone number where he could be reached, KSTU-TV reported.
He told the television station he was overwhelmed with attention from people wanting to help his wife, who has been waiting for a kidney for two years.
"I don't walk real fast," Winters told KSTU-TV about his effort to help his wife of 26 years. "I'm trying to get a kidney for my wife. My wife has stage 5 kidney failure. She's on dialysis, and she doesn't like it. It's horrible."
Winters told the television station that he received between 700 and 800 phone calls from people. The couple got the phone call they had been hoping for on Sunday.
The kidney did not come from the advertisement, but from a kidney donor who had recently died, the television station said.
"A kidney is the most commonly transplanted organ from a living donor," said a statement on the United Network for Organ Sharing website. "One entire kidney is removed and transplanted. Living liver donation, where a segment of the donor's liver is transplanted, occurs less often, and the donor is usually related to the recipient. Also, in rare cases, a segment of organs such as lung, intestine or pancreas can be transplanted from a living donor."
Winters told the television station that the donation will extend his wife's life.
"If she can have a good five years that would be awesome, we can have our life back," Winters said to KSTU-TV.
Winters, though, said he is not done with his sign and asking for kidney donations.
"I will spend more of my days walking with my sign to see how many I can get," Winters told KSTU-TV. "Think about it. We could start a kidney revolution, and that would be so great."
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