RICHMOND, Va. — Author's note: The video above is from a separate story about April being 'Donate Life Month' that aired on April 8, 2020.
Evon Walker, a customer service representative for the South Hill Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in Virginia, needed a kidney transplant.
Her sister, Carol Chapman, wanted to be a living donor. Unfortunately, she wasn't a match for Evon.
Roughly an hour away in Chesterfield, brother and sister duo Hughton Maye and Sophia Maye-Smith were in the exact same situation. Hughton needed a kidney, but Sophia wasn't a match.
Amazingly, Carol was a match for Hughton, and Sophia was a match for Evon. They were able to donate to the other sibling after being connected through Evon's doctors.
“The fact that I could help him now, or anyone for that matter, that wasn't debatable,” Sophia Maye-Smith said of her decision.
A living donor can be a relative, partner or friend. In some cases, they can even be unknown givers who simply want to do good and spread the gift of health.
In the United States in 2021, more than 6,500 living donors saved the lives of those who were waiting on transplant lists.
“On Living Donor Day, we honor living donors for saving lives and sparing their recipients from waiting longer for a transplant,” said Lara Malbon, the executive director of Donate Life Virginia.
After Evon received her miracle, she returned to work at the DMV, which is the place where Virginians are able to consent to being donors upon their death. Donors get that marked with a small heart on their driver's licenses.
Now, when she asks someone if they want to register to be a donor, it takes on a new meaning.
“When they say, 'Yes, I want to be an organ donor,' I'll say thank you. And sometimes they'll look at me strange. And I say, ‘I'm saying, thank you because I'm a recipient, because someone agreed to be a donor.’ And they'll say, ‘Oh, that is awesome.’” Evon said.
“It's like, when they can relate to a story, it helps them to accept it better. I'll just tell them briefly, 'I've had a transplant, I had a new kidney, and you just can't realize how much it changes a person's life just to have that opportunity to have life again.'”