COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) - When Piedmont Columbus Regional recently raised a flag at 1:08 p.m. to highlight the importance of organ donation, the timing was intentional. It represented the impact one donor can have on up to eight people.
One of the people attending the ceremony was Pat McDougall, an IT project manager at Piedmont. McDougall understands that impact more than most.
In 2018, McDougall felt perfectly healthy. She went to the gym multiple times a week and attended a spin class. But in April she fell and broke her arm. In the ER, she was told she would need surgery.
Doctors were concerned with her blood work before her surgery, however, worried about the impact of anesthesia. The surgery was delayed, and that weekend McDougall became extremely sick. Over the next six weeks she underwent testing, and her body began swelling badly as her condition worsened.
After six weeks of testing, McDougall's doctor informed her that she was in Stage 5 kidney failure. An autoimmune disease she had in her feet 15 years ago had returned and destroyed both of her kidneys within a handful of months.
'I DIDN'T KNOW HOW LONG I WOULD LIVE'
For the next six months, McDougall continued working full-time at Piedmont despite being very ill. During that time, she was in-and-out of the hospital, having numerous life-saving surgeries.
McDougall was put on emergency dialysis after doctors failed to find her blood pressure.
Her first grandchild, Hunter, was born August 5, 2018, but because of an infection, McDougall couldn't hold him. She could be in the room with Hunter, but she couldn't touch him and had to wear a mask.
"I didn't know how long I would live," McDougall said. "I didn't know if I would get to see him have his first birthday or his second birthday."
McDougall continued with dialysis for about five hours, three days a week. She had nine life-threatening events and spent 105 days in the hospital over the course of 10 months.
A doctor in Atlanta told her she needed a transplant. Initially, the idea of getting a kidney transplant scared her, McDougall said, and she couldn't even say the word out loud.
Her son, Shane McDougall, a self-described realist, gave her the tough love she needed to get her to apply for a kidney transplant.
There are 109,000 people waiting for an organ transplant nationally, according to LifeLink of Georgia, and more than 4,700 of those are Georgians.
People who have high blood pressure or other problems won't be approved because they won't be able to keep the new kidney working, she said. Typically, the process to get approved takes about one-to-three months. Because of setbacks, it took McDougall 11 months to get approved.
"Every day, I'm like, 'God, I've got to have a kidney,'" she said.
'YOU CAN'T GO TO WALMART AND BUY A KIDNEY'
In early 2020, a committee met to decide whether McDougall would be approved for a kidney transplant.
They either say yes, and she would cry.
Or they would say no, and she would cry.
The phone rang midway through the morning while McDougall was trying to keep busy at work.
"You're approved," the transplant coordinator said. "But there are these conditions."
McDougall could get a kidney transplant, but the kidney had to be from a living donor, which is statistically more likely to succeed. The transplant also had to be performed within the year.
"You can't go to Walmart and buy (a kidney)," McDougall said. "And no one is standing on the corner saying, 'Hey, let me give you my kidney.'"
Shane, who works at Piedmont as well, walked into her office right after she put the phone down.
She told him the news, and he teared up and told her to be happy. People take each day they're given for granted, Shane said, and they don't realize until they're battling something like kidney failure or another illness how fast loved ones can be taken away.
"So, when you're given another day or another chance at another day," he said. "It's always a blessing and an opportunity to look at it from a different light."
'BY THE WAY, MY NAME IS LIBBY'
McDougall put her faith in God that she would be able to find a living donor.
"I knew that I needed to put my story on social media," she said.
Four days after getting approved, she wrote her story for a Facebook post. Some people knew what she had been going through, but many of her coworkers and others in her community had no idea. McDougall had been quiet about her health because she didn't want people to think she was sick and treat her differently.
So, she knew once the post went live, everyone would know about this vulnerable part of her life. In the post, she wrote about her medical background, how she was feeling, her faith and her need for a life-saving transplant. At the bottom of the post, she put the number to call for anyone willing to donate a kidney.
She posted the message on March 4, 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning.
Within one week, McDougall had 12,000 hits and more than 100 comments.
Less than a week after posting her story on Facebook, someone sent McDougall a private message.
"Hey, today I saw your story," the message read. "And I can't get you off my mind. I've called the number, and I hope we're a match."
For a moment, McDougall didn't even have a name for this stranger who was willing to help. But a minute later another message came.
"By the way, my name is Libby."
'I'M COMMITTED TO THIS'
Libby Green is a retired firefighter, paramedic and rescue operations specialist.
She came across McDougall's post three times while scrolling through Facebook. Although the women didn't know each other, they had mutual friends. The first couple of times the post came up, Green prayed the stranger would find the help she needed.
"She popped up again," Green said. "I said, 'Okay. I get it. I need to contact this woman.'"
From that moment, Green allowed her faith to lead her. She was going to get the lab work done, and if it wasn't meant to be, then they wouldn't be a match. A couple of days after the initial blood work, she got a call that it looked really good and they were optimistic Libby would be a match.
After the initial blood work, Green received a "big box" with kits for more testing to ensure she was healthy enough to donate her kidney.
COVID-19 had begun spreading across the country, and Libby was asked to isolate because she needed to stay healthy for McDougall.
Finally, Green got the call that she was not only a match for McDougall, but the two women matched "like sisters." Green was informed first, to give her another chance to change her mind.
"I don't really need to think about it," Green told the coordinator. "I'm committed to this."
They wore matching shirts to the hospital, and Shane hugged his mother before it was time for her to go in.
The two women had successful surgeries on June 19, 2020. McDougall's new kidney began working for her immediately.
"And it was funny because this crazy thing gets up and walks down to my room," Green said.
McDougall and her family began thanking Green for donating a kidney to her and haven't stopped. Although McDougall considers her a hero, Green doesn't feel like one.
Her whole reason for donating was to help someone in need, she said. After her years as a first responder, she's not used to the praise. Helping people is in her nature, Green said.
"I've done it for years," she said. "And that's why I got into that line of work - to help people."