Kurtiss Ewell received one Christmas present a few days late this year, and it came from someone he met last fall while volunteering in a Franklin, Tenn., shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees.
Kurtiss Ewell received one Christmas present a few
days late this year, and it came from someone he met last fall while
volunteering in a Franklin, Tenn., shelter for Hurricane Katrina
evacuees.
Ewell, a diabetic who suffered from kidney disease, received the gift of a kidney from Audrey Dean Jan. 3.
Dean, who attends Tennessee Valley Community Church
in Paris, and Ewell, a member of Northside Baptist Church in
Murfreesboro, Tenn., received Tennessee Baptist disaster relief
training in September. They met Sept. 30 on their first ministry
assignment.
The two believe God called them into disaster relief
ministry, and they believe their meeting at the shelter did not happen
by chance – it was a divine appointment.
Dean said they spent part of the day working
together on inventory in the trailers. While she knew nothing of
Ewell’s medical problems, she did notice that he had to stop
periodically to rest.
The next day Dean and others asked Northside
volunteer Sarah Beth Miller about Ewell when he didn’t return to the
shelter. Miller told them Ewell wasn’t feeling well, that he suffered
from kidney disease, and that he likely would have to begin dialysis
treatments in the next year if a kidney did not become available.
Dean remembers thinking she would put Ewell on the prayer list at her
church. She returned home the following Sunday and prayed for Ewell on
Monday and Tuesday.
Donating one of her own kidneys was not part of her
thoughts. While she had made arrangements to be an organ donor at the
time of her death, Dean had never considered being a living donor.
But God had other plans.
“By Wednesday I really felt this was what the Lord wanted me to do,” she says.
She called Ewell and left a message on his answering
machine saying she might have a kidney for him. She asked him to return
her call.
When he got the message, Ewell recalled feeling
“kind of confused and hesitant, though I did call her back. I never had
a clue she would be the one to donate.
“Audrey said she was willing to be the donor if I
was willing to accept,” Ewell explains. “Of course I’d be willing to
accept. It kind of started to overwhelm me. It was like out of a
disaster something good would happen. I was going to help Katrina
people and an angel came to help me.”
Testing began immediately to see if a kidney from
Dean would be a match for Ewell since they already knew they shared the
same blood type. When the tests were completed, they were a perfect
match. In filling out endless forms, they also discovered they shared
the same birthday, though Ewell is three years older.
In Dean’s mind, their Sept. 20 birthdays were just
another sign God that had brought them together for a purpose.
“I have never had one moment when I questioned doing
this,” Dean notes. “I heard God speak. For every question there has
been an answer. I get to be a part of God’s miracle.”
For Ewell, the surgery offers a new lease on life and the timing is perfect.
He had been placed on a list for a cadaver kidney in
2003, and his health was on a downward spiral. In July 2005 he lost his
TennCare prescription drug coverage due to budget cuts. In November,
his two-day-a-week role as church receptionist was expanded to a
four-day-a week job to help pay for his prescriptions.
During this period Ewell also won an appeal for
Social Security disability that includes Medicare insurance coverage.
Originally scheduled for Nov. 28, the surgery was
moved to Jan. 3 when a mix-up with the hospital was discovered. While
frustrating at the time, Ewell and Dean believe the move was a good
thing.
It has allowed Dean time to train the person who
will do her job billing insurance companies for Home Health Care and
Hospice. It also has given Ewell more time to become physically,
emotionally and spiritually prepared for the surgery.
Dean, a married mother of two daughters, went into the surgery with the
full support of her family. Also, some co-workers donated sick days for
her to use.
Ewell, who is not married, described Northside as “a rock for me to lean on. I have had a world of support.”
As they approached surgery, Ewell and Dean requested
prayer for both of them to recover fully from the procedures. Both
individuals plan to continue involvement in disaster relief ministry.
Before the surgery was scheduled, Ewell had signed
up to go to Mississippi on Jan. 9 with a team from Northside.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to go,” he quipps.
While he doesn’t know what his future holds, Ewell knows helping others will be part of his life.
“During this time in my life I’ve realized there are
a lot of people needing help. I hope people will see Christ in me and I
can turn some minds away from the ways of the world. I can tell them my
story,” Ewell notes.
As to the details of his future, Ewell says, “I can hardly wait to see what the Lord has in store.” (BP)