78 Year Old Man Walks More Than 250 Miles to Save Sweetheart’s Life and It Works!

Some people can't imagine being married to the same person for over half a century but this is not one of those stories.

You might remember that in July, I told you the story of Larry and Jimmie Sue Swilling who’ve been married for over 57 years.

Larry was on the mission of his lifetime.  A mission to find a kidney for his wife. Jimmie Sue was born with only one kidney, but that kidney is shot and she needed a new one, but nobody in her family was a match and while she was on the donor list, the wait was two to three years and that was for a kidney from a deceased donor. Patients who receive a kidney from a living donor have a much better chance of survival.

Larry decided not to wait on the chance a donor might be found through the registry.  He took to the streets to find a kidney to save the love of his life.

Virtually every day for over a year, Larry has walked more than 250 miles around his hometown of Anderson, South Carolina wearing a sandwich board begging for a kidney. At intersections and on the street Larry plead with people to be tested to see if they were a match for his sweetheart.

Well, last week they did finally find a kidney, which is being donated by a woman in Virginia Beach apparently because she saw their story on the news.  And Jimmie Sue says she never doubted that Larry would come through for her.  She told the local news, quote, "I knew it was going to happen, because I know him.  He wouldn't have stopped until he got me one."

The life-saving surgery could happen as early as this Thursday.

This is some of the happiest news I’ve been able to share with you.  It is a Good News Monday indeed.