Rev. Richard Williams
Kidney Recipient
“Five years ago on Friday, April 24th, 2020. I received a call that changed everything. It wasn’t just any Friday; it was the Friday. The call I had prayed for, hoped for, waited for. The call that said, “We have a kidney for you.”
At the time I had been on dialysis for three years, three times a week for four hours a day, hooked to a machine trying to hold on to strength and hope. I wasn’t just a patient; I was a pastor, a husband and a father.
My children were eight, four and just one year old at the time of the call. They didn’t understand kidney failure; they just knew that daddy was tired. They knew that daddy couldn’t always show up the way he wanted to. I knew that if something didn’t change soon, they might have to grow up without me.
When the call came, it wasn’t just about my health; it was about hope. This transplant had the potential to give me my life back, my fatherhood back, my purpose back. And by the grace of God, it did.
Since that day I’ve watched my children grow, go to school and run into my arms time and time again. In 2023 I finally returned back to work, and I am proud to serve as the Director of Education for United Way of Horry County. I get to pour into families, advocate for children and lift up others, who like me, know what it means to depend on the kindness of strangers.
In the Bible, Jesus gathered with his disciples on Maundy Thursday, knowing the cross was coming, but before he broke bread, the did something radical; he served. The king of kings wrapped a towel around his waist, grabbed the basin of water and began to wash the disciple’s feet. That’s not weakness; that’s strength and humility.
John 13:14 says, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash the feet of others.” That’s what organ donation is; it’s foot washing love. It’s ‘I may not know you, but I will serve you’ love. It’s the highest form of compassion, giving something of yourself so that someone else can live.
To every donor family, thank you. You made a choice in the darkest hour that brought light into someone else’s life. You knelt low so someone else could stand tall.
To my fellow transplant recipients, this gift is more than physical. It is purpose. It is possibility. It’s a second chance, so let’s not waste it.
I may carry someone else’s kidney, but I also carry their legacy. Every day when I wake up, I try to live a life that is worthy of that legacy; a life of gratitude, service and love because on Friday, April 24th, 2020, I got my life back and I owe it all to my donor hero.