Jackie Edwards and her husband Sterling have been friends and fellow church members with Billy and Dianne Seeley for years. Jackie has seen their heart for service and their love for the people at Cedar Hill Baptist Church.
When she found out last year that Billy was experiencing kidney failure, she knew that he was going to be OK.
“I said from the beginning, when I found out that Billy was going to need a kidney, that there were going to be people lined up around the block to give Billy Seeley a kidney,” Edwards said. “Because that’s the kind of person Billy is. He and Diane have spent their whole lives being givers and doing for other people, and they’ve just poured into people.
“So, I had no doubt that God was going to take care of this.”
She just didn’t know that she would be the donor.
Failing health
Seeley has a hereditary condition that he’s known for some time could cause problems with his kidney functions. Over the past few years, he began to notice more problems, like unexplained nose bleeds and fatigue, that were signs of kidney failure. His levels began dropping more rapidly in April, and he was told he would need a transplant.
At first, Seeley figured he would receive a kidney from a deceased donor. But then the more information he received, it became apparent that success rates for transplants from a living donor are much higher. Even so, Seeley hesitated to pursue that option.
“I’m a little better at giving than I am at receiving, quite honestly,” he said. “And so, I really didn’t want to burden other people and take it. I was really going to go down the path of the deceased donor, even if I did have to take some dialysis.”
The problem, however, was that a donation from a deceased donor could take several years. Though the Seeleys initially kept their need private, word started trickling out. His friends at Cedar Hill began hearing about Seeley’s need.
“It was crazy how many people we had signing up and being willing to be tested as potential donors for us,” Seeley said.
More than attending church
Eric Taylor, pastor of Cedar Hill Baptist Church, said the number from his church who volunteered to donate was probably in the teens. Several others spoke to their doctors about the possibility but were ruled out as candidates before they could be tested.
“We’re more than just a bunch of people that attend church together on Sunday,” Taylor said. “We’re like a family.”
“It’s just seeing our church family walk the talk of what it means to have a relationship with Christ and what he came to teach us,” Seeley said. “To see them living it out so willingly, I mean, it was just amazing.”
Perfect match
Jackie said she and her husband began praying about meeting Seeley’s need. Though her husband wasn’t a good candidate, Jackie thought she might be. She’s healthy, doesn’t have young children to care for, doesn’t have a job requiring her to punch a clock and it wasn’t going to be a financial strain.
“Why not me?” Jackie began thinking. She went forward with the testing and discovered that she was a perfect match.
The successful transplant operation took place at Vanderbilt on Jan. 9. Almost immediately, Seeley began showing improvement.
“Before I could even get down to Billy’s room to visit him, (the kidney) was working and his numbers had shot way up,” Edwards said.
Embracing the difficult
Edwards said she was thankful that God was able to use her to be a blessing to her friend and someone in need.
“I think God calls people to do harder things than this all the time, that maybe they don’t ever get to see the fruit of,” she said. “I immediately got to see the fruit of my labor for my friend, who was just an amazing person to begin with.”
The long-term prognosis for Seeley is positive.
“It’s just like walking through a miracle,” he said. “By being humbled and receiving like I did on this, there’s no doubt it’s going to make me a better giver.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tim Ellsworth and published by Baptist and Reflector.
