South Land Title examiner Debra Lewing had a failing kidney.
In 2019, after battling kidney disease for about 15 years, she went into end-stage renal failure.
“At, this point I was sent to Houston Methodist to be placed on the waiting list for a kidney,” Lewing recalled. “In early 2020, as my doctor was preparing me for dialysis, I was doing everything I could to avoid it, then COVID-19 began to break out in our area. It was a very critical time for me. If I were to contract the COVID virus, it could be fatal for me.”
One of Lewing’s Bryan-College Station office colleagues, plant manager Dawn Thomas, offered to help.
“I asked her what would it take to stop her from going on dialysis,” Thomas said. “She said a kidney. I offered mine. Not sure she believed me, so we agreed to think about it. After about a week of research, thought and prayers I told her let’s do this.”
Thomas would make multiple trips down to Houston Methodist Hospital and undergo all the vigorous testing to be a donor to see if she was a match for a kidney transplant. She was not.
Undeterred, Thomas offered to be entered into a swap program that could potentially match her with someone else that could provide a match for Lewing as well.
Eventually, Houston Methodist doctors were able to match them up with four other kidney patients and their donors to do a five-way swap, which matched five patients with five donors over two full days of surgery. A headline in the Houston Chronicle read “Magnolia couple saves 5 lives with Houston Methodist kidney swap.”
“Dawn is a selfless, giving and sweet person, that I cannot ever put into words how grateful I am to her for her friendship and the sacrifice she has made to help me,” Lewing said. “It’s truly a miracle from God how this all came about and worked out! God is good!”
“It definitely is an honor to be a part of,” Thomas said. “I am humbled to be a part of God’s plan with this because clearly He had big plans!”