PATIENT STORY :
FULL-CIRCLE KINDNESS : TRANSPLANT PATIENTS HOPE TO INSPIRE OTHERS
PATIENT STORIES – KIDNEY
Anthony Pilot and Jessica Meyer hope their intertwined pasts – and their passion for helping those in need – will help inspire others to show more kindness .
Pilot , a community pastor , math instructor , and academic coordinator at Gulf Coast State College , found his calling as a mentor and a math teacher at Jinks Middle School in Panama City , Fla ., after leaving the private sector in 2001 . With a background in sports and a heart for mentoring young men , Pilot was offered a chance to be an assistant coach at Jinks by then-head football coach Don Vandergrift – Meyer ’ s father-in-law – soon after being hired .
In May 2017 , Meyer was hired as an educational resource advisor within the same department as Pilot . After quickly connecting the dots , Pilot told her that her father-in-law was the reason he was in education .
“ He was the best mentor I could ’ ve asked for ,” Pilot says . “ He gave me a chance when I had no experience whatsoever .”
As they worked together , Vandergrift learned that Pilot was extremely ill . He had struggled with diabetes for more than 20 years , and Pilot had been diagnosed nearly five years before with kidney failure . He was on dialysis , and he had been on the waiting list for a kidney for more than three years .
“ I didn ’ t have an education about kidney disease ,” he says . “ Psychologically , it was tough . Dialysis scared me because of my friends ’ experiences . I didn ’ t really know what it meant . I just saw the end results . One of my parishioners at church ended up dying while on dialysis . That shook me and made me realize I was very limited on my time , and I needed to make adjustments in my life .”
SACRIFICING FOR OTHERS In the past , other people were tested but were not a match for Pilot . As a father of four daughters , Pilot says at times he was in denial that he was reaching end-stage kidney failure .
“ I didn ’ t want anyone to have to sacrifice for me ,” he says . “ I just wanted to wait on a cadaver kidney .”
Meyer decided to do something about that . Her journey led her to UAB Medicine . Because of previous testing , Pilot was already on the list at UAB .
“ I started asking questions and was eventually able to find the website that said I would need to discreetly fill out a questionnaire that would determine whether or not I was a candidate for testing ,” Meyer says .
Within a few days , Meyer received a phone call from the UAB Comprehensive Transplant Institute saying that she was approved to be tested . In January 2018 , she made the trip to Birmingham to undergo all the necessary tests and later was told that she was a perfect match for Pilot .
When she delivered the good news to Pilot , he was in awe . “ I called my wife and we started crying ,” he says . “ Just the simple fact that she was willing to go to UAB was overwhelming .”
HUMILITY Meyer says she does not like a lot of attention . She is a fairly private person and did not tell many people she was going through the screening process to become a potential kidney donor for Pilot .
“ However , the response that I received from the few people who did know made me a little sad ,” she says . “ While I obviously agree that the act of organ donation is a huge decision , and I will always greatly appreciate the sincere acknowledgment of that , I just feel like people helping people should be much more normalized within our society .”
Her husband , Josh Vandergrift , only reiterates that point . He explains that he was not the least bit surprised when she told him she was interested to know if she would be a match .
20 UAB CTI Report