Bullhead City worker to donate kidney to stranger
Aug 13, 2012, 6:37 AM | Updated: 6:37 am
The rarest of gifts will be given to a man who spent his entire career putting his life on the line.
“I thought I was fine, but I wasn’t. I didn’t realize how sick I really was,” said Mike Newman, retired sergeant of the Bullhead City Police Department.
The 57-year-old retiree is suffering from end stage renal failure and is in dire need of a kidney transplant.
An internal email circulating within the City offices landed on the desk of Kellie Boff, Bullhead City Chamber of Commerce operations director. She said she left the email on her desk for days and thought about what she planned to do. She made up her mind and called the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.
“I couldn’t be more grateful, especially to someone who’s a stranger willing to make such a supreme sacrifice,” said Newman. “Kellie is literally giving me the gift of life.”
Once the pair were no better than strangers, now, through Boff’s selflessness, they’re about to become friends for the rest of Newman’s life.
“One guy said to me God gave you two kidneys for a reason. I said, ‘how do you know it wasn’t to share with a friend,’ ” said Boff.
She admits she thoroughly researched the procedure and any long-term effects it might have before agreeing to donate a kidney.
She said she will live life just as she did before — adding that helping others in their time of need is “just the right thing to do.”
The Arizona Fraternal Order of Police is conducting ongoing fundraising to help cover the pair’s out-of-pocket expenses.
To help, please Click here.
