Georgia police officer in need of kidney meets potential donor

ATLANTA — A potential donor for a Georgia police officer in need of a kidney is completing his final rounds of testing this week.

The man is undergoing two days of scans Thursday and Friday to see if he is the perfect match Raleigh Callaway has been waiting for.

Callaway, 49, is a veteran investigator with the City of Greensboro Police Department and is in stage 5 kidney failure. In July, Callaway learned he was in desperate need of a kidney transplant.

With the help of a photographer, Brandy Angel Photography, Callaway and his wife took to social media in search of a donor. The pair shared family photos with their daughters, Delaini and Braleigh, holding a sign that said, “Our Daddy Needs a Kidney.”

When Channel 2 first posted the Callaways' story on Facebook it spread across the country -- being shared more than 45,000 times.

Their story was picked up by stations across the country, and caught the eye of thousands who reached out to the family offering prayers and even offering to donate their kidneys.

Hundreds of people called Emory University in Atlanta asking to be tested as a match for Raleigh. More than 300 of those people also volunteered to be a donor to a stranger.

Out all the people who called, the Callaways' transplant team created a list of top 10 potential donors. The man who was first on that list is now in Atlanta completing the final testing.

The man, who is from out of state, said he saw the Callaways’ story on his local TV station. The former military man and father of two said he knew right away that it was something he wanted to be a part of.

Last week, Raleigh completed all his scans and was officially added to the transplant list. At that point, the doctors set up testing for the potential donor for mid-September, but the man said he didn’t want to wait that long.

“This person completely recognizes and feels the urgency of our situation and is as eager as we ever could have prayed for to make our way to transplant as quickly as possible,” said Raleigh’s wife, Kristi Callaway.

The man rescheduled his testing for this Thursday and Friday, paying his own way and his own hotel room, all to have the chance to donate his kidney to a complete stranger.

Thursday night, the Callaways plan to meet their potential donor for dinner.

“It’s still so unreal to me,” said Kristi. “God is revealing His plan in ways only He can.”

Kristi said this upcoming Wednesday they will find out if the man is the match they’ve been waiting for. If that’s the case, the transplant could be scheduled and completed by the end of the month.

“So many people wait years and years and years,” said Kristi. “It’s hard to believe how quickly all of this has happened. We are so thankful and grateful to this man and every person who reached out to us.”

Kristi said Raleigh is just one of more than 93,000 people waiting for a kidney. She said their journey has inspired her to become an advocate for organ donation.

“This will forever change me. I feel like I have to continue this one way or the other. I don’t know how small or how big, but I definitely feel like I need to advocate for awareness for kidney disease and organ donation,” she said.

The family has already created a Facebook page where they are sharing stories of donors and others in need of kidney transplants. They held an event in Greensboro last month to promote kidney disease awareness and more than 1,500 people attended.

WSBTV