Man Surprised Live on Air by Neighbor & 'Good Morning America' with Life-Saving Kidney
What’s the greatest gift you’ve ever received?
We all know that existence itself is an undeniable blessing, and what thing has someone else given you that has made your years better? For some, it might be a piece of wisdom.
Others could credit a bit a kindness, a gesture that showed true love. Dave Courtney of Sylvania, Ohio, though, wouldn’t have to think very long to come up with an appropriate answer.
According to KTSA, the 63-year-old husband, father and grandfather wasn’t the kind of man given to complaining.
So when doctors discovered in 1990 that he had a serious kidney disease, neither he nor his wife Christine went shouting about it from the rooftops.
“Dave and Chris, they’re very private about it,” their longtime neighbor, Nancy Seigneur, explained.
“They’re not going to be pity party or poor me or anything. They would never ask for help. Never.”
Unfortunately, help was exactly what they needed. A Good Morning America segment revealed that though Courtney had been on a transplant waiting list for three long years, he’d never been able to find a donor.
Sadly, Courtney’s illness had progressed to the point where he needed dialysis. “I really didn’t want to go there,” he said.
Christine Courtney added, “He was definitely scared. I could tell by the look in his eyes. …
“I have an amazing husband, and I would certainly welcome anyone who would be willing to donate a kidney for him. There’s not any better gift than that.”
That gift would indeed come — and it would come from a place far closer than either of the Courtneys could guess. See, Nancy Seigneur and her family had hit it off with the Courtneys from the get-go.
Unbeknown to them, Seigneur decided to get her kidney tested to see if could be a donor match. And wonder of wonders, it turned out that she was.
“I jumped at the chance to do this, not knowing that I was going to be a match,” she said. “You think about being a match, but you’re thinking, ‘How could I be a match?’”
With the help of Good Morning America, Seigneur broke the news to Courtney that he was about to get a new lease on life courtesy of her. When the cameras were rolling, show member T. J. Holmes told him, “in fact, several weeks ago someone did step up, and they wanted to help you out, and they went and got tested. …
“The person is at your front door.” Then Seigneur walked into the room, and Courtney’s face crumpled like a piece of paper as he engulfed her in a bear hug.
“I’ve never been hesitant at all to do this,” Seigneur said. “He’s worth every ounce of it.”
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