HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Some things follow us for years: dreams, hopes, and goals. For Alma Mathis Baymon, she knew at a young age she had kidney disease. As a dietician herself with DaVita, a kidney dialysis provider, she cares for patients on dialysis. The roles were about to be flipped. She would be the one in the chair.
"I told the doctor. I need to be put in the hospital now. I knew that my kidney had failed," says Baymon.
Baymon's dialysis journey started in 2019. Then she got an unexpected call.
"They called me in the middle of the night it was 11. My husband was sleeping. I told him he needs to get up. They want me there in two hours," says Baymon.
That call was a green light for a kidney donor, but the outcome was different than expected.
"After the surgery, they said we still have to dialyze you," explained Baymon.
Then, an unlikely hero came into play—Vince Golden, a dietician who works with Baymon. Golden remembered hearing her story years ago about the likelihood of needing a kidney in the future.
"I was already thinking I could give her a kidney if she ever needed one," says Goldman.
Two coworkers, two healthy kidneys now split among two people, to usher in a lot of new for a colleague.
"A new life, a new burst of energy, more times to be with my family, friends and my church family," says Baymon.
Check out the Nation Kidney Foundation website for more information about kidney diseases.