HQ Associate’s Kidney Donation Journey Starts With a Sign—Literally

One day in late 2021, Chris Kershaw was driving near his home in Plano, a large Dallas suburb, when he noticed a yard sign saying “Kidney for Steve.” The sign specified that potential donors needed to have type O-positive blood.

Kershaw, a frequent blood donor, knew he was O-positive.

“That kind of made me do a double-take,” said Kershaw, a replenishment and inventory analyst based at Dallas headquarters. “A couple of weeks earlier, I was listening to talk radio, and a guy had mentioned how he wanted to do something for someone in a big way, and he donated his kidney. He’d had a good life and wanted to give back. For some reason, that resonated with me. It made sense. Then I saw that sign.”

Kershaw took a photo of the sign, which was less than a mile from his house. He checked out a website mentioned on the sign. It directed him to Renewal, a New York City-based organization that manages kidney donations. After reading some of the site’s material, he decided to proceed with seeing if he was a match.

“I knew the odds of this going through were pretty slim, but I thought, ‘Why not see how far it can go before I get a hard stop?’,” said Kershaw, who has been with the Exchange since 2011. “Everything kept greenlighting. It kept going to the next level until it got done.”

Within months, Kershaw was in New York City, where the transplant procedure took place in June. He got tested for COVID and other risk factors and all was good to go.

Before the procedure, Kershaw contacted the recipient, Steve Sands, via Facebook Messenger. “He had no awareness that I’d even done the initial paperwork,” Kershaw said. “I knew that if we were going to make contact, it had to come from me. He replied quickly and we met for lunch.”

Sands said he had begun seeking a donor in March 2021, and Kershaw contacted him in February 2022.

“He had been going through the evaluation for some time when he reached out to me,” Sands said. “I was elated, because we had been doing a lot of social media and trying different means of finding somebody. Because of my age, O-positive is the most difficult blood type to match even though it’s the most prevalent blood type. My wife and children aren’t my blood type, and others didn’t qualify because of health reasons.”

Kershaw learned that for six months, Sands had been undergoing dialysis, which takes several hours, three times a week.  He knew that the stars really had to be aligned for this to happen. Kershaw told Steve, “Don’t be disappointed if I get turned down” But all the cross-matching and more intense tests went OK.”

The Exchange’s Chris Kershaw, right, and recipient Steve Sands the day after the kidney-transplant operation.

The more intense tests included a CT scan, EKGs, a chest X-ray, more blood work and a urinalysis. All the tests took place in one day in New York City, where Renewal has relationships with hospitals and doctors.  He had to meet with a nephrologist, a social worker and a psychiatrist. “About a week or two later, they said everything looked good and we are compatible and I was cleared to donate my kidney,” Kershaw said.

During the tests, Kershaw was asked whether the Exchange was a government organization and learned about the Organ Donor Leave Act, which covers government workers with up to 30 days paid time off so they don’t have to use their own sick leave. He spoke to his supervisor about it, and his HR business partner, Carol Chandler (who has since retired) confirmed the act’s PTO period and instructed him in how to apply for it.

“AAFES completely supported the donation,” Kershaw said. “My manager, my manager’s manager, HR, everyone was cooperative. Nobody tried to persuade me not to do it or questioned why I was doing it.”

After he checked in, Kershaw was allowed to visit Sands, whose wife was also in his hospital room. It was the first time Kershaw met her.

“She gave me two cards and then she started crying,” Kershaw said. “And Steve was teary-eyed. At that moment, I 100% knew I was doing the right thing and was no longer nervous. Not long after that the nurse and I walked to the operating room and moments later I was out.”

Kershaw was discharged the day after the operation. Six days later, he was back in the Dallas area. “I missed 2½ weeks total,” he said. “And I worked half-days the first week I was back.”

Sands had to stay in the hospital another week and remain in New York for two months after the procedure. He says he’s doing great. In September, Kershaw and Sands had dinner, along with Sands’ mother, who wanted to thank Kershaw for saving her son’s life. He and Kershaw have remained in touch.

“For him to even apply to donate to someone who’s a stranger says a lot about him,” Sands said. “My website tells you about me but we could only give so much information. For him to have the desire to help someone like that and go through this—he’s a unique person and such a gift to me and my family.”

To find out more about Renewal, click here.

To learn more about organ donation, visit organdonor.gov.