Crazy story ends with alumni couple donating, receiving kidney — but not with one another

How’s this for something to be thankful for?

Chris and Susan Sadler met as freshmen at Baylor in the early 1980s and got married after graduation. Around that same time, Chris learned that he might have the same kidney disease that had affected his father.

Fast forward 20 years. Now in his 40s, Chris learns that it’s time to start thinking about either dialysis or a kidney transplant. Then they got the good news: Susan was a match!

But here’s where things take a twist: A month before the procedure, the Sadlers learned of another man who was already on dialysis and badly needed a transplant. That man’s daughter had volunteered to donate, but wasn’t a match for her dad. Susan, however, was.

[Read the long version of the Sadlers’ story in Waco Today.]

The Sadlers had to make a decision; be selfish and keep Susan’s kidney in the family, or donate to this man who badly needed help?

They chose the latter — and God came through for Chris, too. The daughter who wasn’t a match for her own father turned out to be a match for Chris. So in July, Susan gave her kidney to a man she had never met, while Chris received a kidney from that man’s daughter. Privacy laws prevent donors from meeting the recipients until at least six weeks after the surgery, but the Sadlers say they hope to meet the father and daughter at some point.

At this Thanksgiving, four months later, both families have much to be thankful for.

Sic ’em, Chris and Susan!

(photo by Waco Today’s Ken Sury)