wfn.org | [UMNS-ALL-NEWS] UMNS# 630-Pastor answers call,

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Pastor answers call, gives teen second chance at life

Nov. 8, 2005

NOTE: Photographs and audio are available at http://umns.umc.org.

A UMNS Feature
By Kathy L. Gilbert*

Laura England is running a mile, eating chocolate and preparing to go to
college next semester.

Typical things for most 18-year-olds, but not something she could even
dream about until the Rev. J. Michael Davis gave her one of his kidneys.

England's kidneys shut down last February, during her senior year in
high school. At the time, Davis was pastor of St. Luke United Methodist
Church in Springfield, Mo., where England has been a member all her
life. He has since been transferred to Milan and Green City United
Methodist Church.

"We are really unsure about what happened to my kidneys," England says.
"The doctor said it was something that may have been going for a long
time." By the time they figured out she was really sick, her kidneys
were too small and shriveled up for the doctors to do a biopsy.

"When I first got sick, the only thing that really scared me was that I
had to go to the hospital," she says.

England's parents were not suitable donors, and her brothers were too
young to be considered. When he heard that news, Davis announced to the
church that England needed a kidney donor with type O blood.

"I knew I could be a potential donor," he says.

"I spent a good week - sleepless nights - just wrestling with the fear,
the anxiety, the call I thought I had," Davis says. "I just woke up one
morning and said, 'I think this is what God is wanting me to do.'" It
was a calling that he describes as strong as or stronger than the one he
felt to be a pastor.

Davis wasn't the only person who felt that way. Two other members of the
church also volunteered to be tested, and all three were good matches.
In a church of 70, that was a miracle in itself, he says.

The other two volunteers and Davis had an open and honest discussion
about which of them would be the best donor.

"We got the transplant coordinator on the phone and asked if there was
anything about any one of us that would make them the better candidate.
She said 'No.'"

Coming to the decision was emotional, he says. "Each person told their
story of faith and love and why they wanted to do this." The three
finally decided Davis should be the donor because he had the strongest
sense of calling.

"All three of us stood around a phone and called Laura," he says. He
told her the decision had been made, and he was going to give her a
kidney.

"There was a long silence on the other end of the phone, and then I
could hear her sobbing," he says.

England says she felt a reassurance from God throughout the entire time
that everything would be all right.

"I never really did think, 'Oh I am being punished,' or 'Why me?' or
anything like that," she says. "I never had a doubt in my mind that
everything would work out."

Davis says he felt a similar assurance. "Once I got through the struggle
and came to understand this was a calling, there was no more fear."

The transplant surgery was performed July 21 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital
in St. Louis.  Even though the surgery hit Davis "like a Mack truck out
on the highway," both he and England are feeling great.

After the surgery, the doctor told Davis, "You have given Laura an
industrial strength kidney." Turns out his kidneys were larger than
usual, and that is good news for England.

England hopes to get married, have a family and a successful career -
probably in the medical field.

"I will always take one day at a time; I always have," she says. "I have
all the hopes and dreams of anybody else. Because Michael gave me his
kidney, I will be able to live just like a normal person."

The United Methodist Church officially encourages all people of faith to
be organ and tissue donors. "We believe that organ transplantation and
organ donation are acts of charity, agape love and self-sacrifice," the
church states in its Book of Discipline.

Organ and Tissue Donor Sunday, a United Methodist special Sunday
observed as part of National Donor Sabbath, will be Nov. 13.

Davis says the miracle of being able to transplant an organ from one
person to another is awe-inspiring, but the real miracle has been in how
much he has received.

"You receive so many blessings, it is just unbelievable."

*Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in
Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Kathy L. Gilbert, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470
or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

----------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this group, go to UMCom.org, log in to your account,
click on the My Resources link and select the Leave option on the list(s)
from which you wish to unsubscribe. If you have problems or questions, please
write to websupport@umcom.org.

Powered by United Methodist Communications http://www.UMCom.org