Christmas came early for man as X Church member donated her kidney to him in April

LITHOPOLIS − Christmas came on April 25 instead of Dec. 25 for David Smith.

That is the day the 68-year-old McConnelsville resident received one of 21-year-old Lithopolis resident Anna Johnson's kidneys. Both are members of X Church in Canal Winchester.

"Christmas came early for me," Smith said.

Johnson said she had never spoken to Smith, but did know his wife, Debbie. She said it saddened her to hear Smith was undergoing dialysis because of kidney disease.

That prompted her to get tested to see if her kidneys would be a match for Smith.

"There was something in me that said I might as well go get tested," Johnson said. "I mean, I have two kidneys. Why not?"

There was only a 1 in 100,000 chance her kidney would match Smith's. But it matched up perfectly.

"At that point, I felt pretty much like that was God telling me that was my path and that's what I was supposed to do," Johnson said of her kidney donation to Smith.

The two had surgery on that same day in April at Ohio State to remove Johnson's kidney and put it in Smith's body.

Johnson said her family was supportive but nervous.

"My husband (Tucker Johnson) actually lost his brother a few years ago, so I think he was nervous about it all," Johnson said. "Just because he's has bad experiences in hospitals and things like that. So it was really hard for him. But I think seeing the whole process brought him a lot of healing. So it was cool that we got to do something for us while helping someone else, too."

Smith had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass in 2007 and doctors also discovered he had kidney disease then. His doctor in Zanesville said Smith would be a perfect candidate for a kidney transplant. But doctors also said he'd have to be an advocate for himself in finding a donor.

"I wouldn't go and say, 'Have you got an extra kidney,'" Smith said.

He was on a waiting list for three years before Johnson approached Smith's wife at church and said she would get tested for the match.

"When someone offers you something like that it's quite a gift," Smith said. "She was adamant about giving me her kidney. God's got to be in here somewhere. He's got to take care of this. There ain't nobody else that can handle this. He's doing what He needs to do to make sure everything works out just fine."

Johnson also said God helped through the whole ordeal.

"Because people would ask me all the time 'Are you getting nervous? How do you feel? Do you ever feel like you don't want to do it?'" she said. "And I just think there was a miraculous peace God gave me the whole time. Because literally up until the moment they were rolling back to surgery I had like not an ounce of nerves."

Johnson said that was not a normal reaction considering it was her first time being in a hospital.

Johnson said while the first few weeks were tough, she's doing well now.

"I'm getting my energy back," she said. "That was the first time I'd ever had a surgery. So that was a big adjustment. But now I'm pretty much back to full speed."

Johnson's husband, Tucker, said he didn't think the donation would actually happen when she first told him about it.

"There's no way," he said. "But then when it happened it was scary, obviously, because the unknown is super scary. But once we got the test results back it was kind of like how can you not do this? There's no way that we could not do this."

Tucker Johnson said the experience has strengthened his faith. He said he would probably also donate a kidney should that situation ever arise.

Anna Johnson also talked about how the experience has affected her faith.

"The whole time I kind of grew my relationship with Jesus because I saw how He sustained me throughout the whole process," she said.

Anna Johnson said she should be able to live a mostly normal life. But she has to avoid high-impact sports, which she said is not a problem. She also cannot take ibuprofen.

"But nothing too crazy," Anna Johnson said. "I have to just be more conscience of my diet and the lifestyle that I'm living."

Knowing what she now knows, would she do it all over again?

"Absolutely," she said. "Yeah. I think it's taught me a lot and I think I've seen all the good on the other side of it and that's been really cool. But, also, I think God has used that to work in my family's life. Not just me, but my husband. And I've seen blessings in my career (military) from this and from being obedient and saying yes to God. He has poured his blessing on us."

Smith said he plans on celebrating the first Christmas with his new kidney with his family.

"I've been blessed many times," he said. "Many times. I praise God that He's come into my life. And Anna - she's something special. An unbelievable woman. It takes somebody special to donate something like that."

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Christmas is extra special this year for man with donated kidney