Nurse Allison Batson, left, donated a kidney to Clay Taber, right. The two met when Taber was being treated at Emory University Hospital. (Lance Skelly)
Nurses often go above and beyond the call of duty to help patients, but they usually don't go to the lengths Allison Batson did. She donated a kidney to one.
The recipient is 23-year-old Clay Taber, who had been treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for kidney failure in 2010. The Auburn University graduate was diagnosed with Goodpasture's syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease that can result in severe damage to the kidneys and lungs.
Taber eventually would up in the transplant unit at Emory, where Batson, a transplant nurse, was working. "Immediately when Clay came onto our unit, he became a special patient that everyone just gravitated to," she said in a news release. "Here was this young man with everything in his life ahead of him, and he was fighting for his life. He quickly became friends of many of the staff, and really was just a tremendous inspiration to us all."
Batson continued to visit with Taber, and by the time he was discharged to continue dialysis treatments at home, Batson offered him her kidney if it was a match, since she had the same O-negative blood type.
Taber's mother was screened as a donor in August 2011, but wasn't compatible. In October Taber was visiting Emory University Hospital and met up with Batson, who made the offer again. This time he didn't turn her down.
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SOURCE: The Los Angeles Times
Jeannine Stein
