Donation Stories
Best Friends, A Life-Saving Gift
Vernisha and Yvonne met at Dozier Middle School in Newport News and became fast friends. More than thirty years later, Yvonne would become Vernisha’s living donor. Kidney disease was not new to Vernisha’s life. Shortly after meeting Yvonne, Vernisha’s father went into kidney failure. He would spend nearly 20 years on dialysis, and in his final two years, Vernisha and her…
Read MoreThe Call That Changed Everything
“I was fortunate enough to receive the call that not everyone does.” For Danville City Councilman and former Virginia Delegate Danny Marshall, that sentence carries a lifetime of meaning. Marshall has lived with pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that scars the lungs and gradually makes breathing harder and harder. It’s also a disease that has impacted his family. His father died…
Read MoreA Second Chance at Their Future Together
15 years ago, when he learned that his wife needed a transplant, Scott Bucci was eager to find out if he was a match. Early on in their marriage, Scott’s wife Melissa became ill. As time passed, her illness progressed and began to require more and more medical interventions. Eventually, her illness began to impact…
Read MoreTwo mothers, one heart: A shared journey for heart transplant recipients
Janell Hull (left) and Mary Small (right) didn’t know one other before they were each brought to the hospital late last year for a heart transplant. But they already had so much in common by the time they arrived at VCU Health Pauley Heart Center’s intensive care unit. Both had endured years-long battles with declining…
Read MoreA Family’s Gift Honors Mother and Child
One summer day, a beautiful, little girl, named Kimberly, was born with sparkly eyes and chubby cheeks to first time parents Cindy and Billy Spruill. She was diagnosed with a rare heart disease, spongy myocardium, a cardiomyopathy described in the literature though never seen by the experienced cardiologist that was in charge and assigned to…
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