Man Walks Streets to Find Kidney for Wife, Succeeds

Donor comes forward after hearing of SC man's devotion
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2013 12:49 AM CDT
Updated Sep 6, 2013 2:00 AM CDT
Man Walks Streets to Find Kidney for Wife—and Succeeds
Larry Swilling walked the streets of Anderson, South Carolina, wearing this board.   (YouTube)

A devoted husband's determination to find the new kidney his wife desperately needed has paid off. Larry Swilling, 78, walked hundreds of miles around South Carolina over the last year with a sandwich board reading "Need Kidney 4 Wife." He says a donor has finally come forward, and he believes it is someone who was tested for donation after news of his quest appeared in the media. His wife Jimmie Sue, 76, was born with only one kidney and it began to fail last year. Swilling began his search after learning he and the couple's three children all had the wrong blood type to be donors.

"I knew it was going to happen because I know him," Jimmie Sue tells Fox Carolina. "He wouldn't have stopped until he got me one." If the donor, a woman in Virginia, clears final testing, the surgery will take place next week. (More kidney stories.)

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