Jim Taylor

 My story really started more than 10 years prior, when I witnessed several living donor transplants firsthand through my work at a local transplant center. I was fortunate to have a job where I helped tell the stories of the transplant teams, patients and donors at our hospitals. 

Within a few short years, a tragedy struck my family and we experienced transplant from a different perspective. Our son received a liver transplant at just 18 days old and a second at one month. He passed at 54 days. That close work with transplant really helped me help my family through that difficult experience and emboldened me to be a passionate transplant advocate.  

In recent years, my wife's sister (who I refer to simply as "my sister") started to get sick. In time, it got worse. Our son would return from sleepovers with his cousin, saying his aunt was crying at night from leg pain and cramps. That's when I knew I had an obligation to do something.  

I didn't need a lot of education. I'd seen kidneys removed and transplanted before my own eyes. I had spoken with dozens of donors and recipients to record their stories. I knew exactly what I was getting into. So I pointed my wife and her sisters to the right resources and TX centers to begin evaluation on her end while I quietly began the donor evaluation on mine. 

I did not think twice about this decision. I did not flinch in the least and only once became upset/worried after a mixup at one of my lab appointments delayed an important test by one week. I simply looked at this as my obligation as a brother to do anything necessary to protect a sister. Nothing more. 

 I was found to be a perfect match just in time to avoid dialysis for my sister. Our surgeries were July 7, 2023. And while my sister had a tough recovery, over a year later she is thriving.