Pastor's life saved by unexpected kidney donor

Pastor's life saved by unexpected kidney donor

08:29 AM PST on Thursday, January 17, 2008

By JACK PENNING, KGW Staff

He's been a popular pastor for more than 40-years in the Northwest, but he found himself in the hospital with his kidneys near failure. Doctors had exhausted every option. Until a chance phone call from the past ended up saving his life.

Even a couple months ago it didn't look good for Damascus Community Church Worship Pastor Rich Stafford. "On my days off, I could sleep the whole day," Rich said from his hospital bed at Legacy Good Samaritan. His doctors told him he was down to 13% of his normal kidney function. Rich needed a transplant - fast.

Each member of Rich's family was tested. Not one was found to be a match. A two-year search for an outside donor turned up none. Rich didn't know what he was going to do.

It was then - when it looked so bleak - that Rich took a call from an old friend, and fellow pastor, he rarely heard from. Pastor Dwight Hires called to check-in. The two went to seminary together in the 60's, and hadn't talked regularly since 1987. Dwight was calling to say hi. Instead, he heard Rich's story about the search for a kidney. Dwight didn't hesitate. On that phone call, he offered Rich one of his own.

"It just all came together," Dwight said.

Rich was amazed at his friend's generosity. "His first reaction was I can do that - I want to do that," Rich said of the phone call.

But there was still one problem. Doctors didn't expect Dwight's kidney to be a suitable match. They started a four month long testing process. The result amazed them. Rich said, "Just so happened that Dwight was a match."

Remarkable considering the odds, said Dwight, "Yeah. Probably one in a hundred."

So this past Monday, the two entered the Good Samaritan operating room together. Rich told Dwight, "Well, here we go, you know." And a few hours later, when both emerged, Dwight had given Rich life. A kidney that was functioning perfectly.

Rich says he can't thank Dwight enough. "He knows I'm very appreciative. But how do you really repay someone for giving you a kidney?" Rich wondered. "I don't know how to do it adequately."

"There's an incredible reward that we get inside," Dwight said, eschewing the notion of any kind of payment. "It does me tremendous good emotionally."

Dwight is doing great - in the top 10% of transplant recipients according to his doctors. He says the difference is amazing, "Almost an immediate improvement in how I felt." Both pastors will be out of the hospital by the weekend, and back on the pulpit by Easter.

It was an unlikely reunion of two old friends, and an unlikely gift that will forever link the two men.

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