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From Monday’s Daily News-Record:

Man Shares Kidney With Co-Worker

By Kelly Jasper

BRIDGEWATER — A year ago, Rick Shifflett’s doctors offered a word of advice.

“They told me I needed to start making friends again,” the 58-year-old Bridgewater man said with a laugh.

Shifflett, his doctors told him, would need a kidney transplant.

It came as no surprise.

Shifflett was already using someone else’s kidney. Eleven years ago, he received his first transplant.

“I knew I was living on borrowed time,” Shifflett said.

In the 1980s, he was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease. It’s a hereditary disease, he explained. His father had it, too.

Each time one of those cysts bursts, his kidneys weaken. One day, he knew they’d just give up.

Since most donated kidneys only last about 10 years, Shifflett’s doctors told him he was already past due.

He thought about going back on the donor’s list — which is where he received his first kidney, from a cadaver in Charlottesville.

But then, one day over the part’s counter at Atkins Automotive, Woody Halterman spoke up. A longtime co-worker and friend, Halterman volunteered for three months of medical tests with the hope that he would make a suitable donor.

And as it turns out, he was.

Finding A Donor

Again, Shifflett said, it came as no surprise. He’s known Halterman, 56, of Harrisonburg, for years.

When he needed the first transplant more than a decade ago, Halterman volunteered for that surgery, too. But with a cadaver that matched, it just made more sense to “spare him the trouble,” Shifflett said.

So Shifflett had the surgery. He was hospitalized for 11 days.

Soon enough, he was back on his feet and at work at Atkins. He and Halterman are both parts salesmen at the Atkins, a NAPA store on North Main Street in Harrisonburg.

Shifflett got better, felt stronger, went back to daily life. Over the years, their families grew closer, he said. The two hunted together, and their wives got along. They became good friends.

A decade passed. Shifflett’s doctors started talking about another transplant.

Halterman didn’t hesitate.

“I said, ‘Shoot, I’ll go take the test,”’ he said.

Doctors started running tests on Halterman in October. They didn’t finish until December.

Every time he took off for another test in Charlottesville, Halterman says his family supported him, even though the trip took time and money.

“I knew Rick would eventually need another kidney,” said Sarah Halterman, 55, of Harrisonburg. “I thought it was the right thing to do and I’m glad Woody was the one to do it.”

In all, he received about $150,000 worth of tests. As a donor, Halterman doesn’t pay for any of those costs.

By December, the doctors decided that Halterman had “a big, healthy kidney.”

The transplant, they said, was a go.

The Surgery

The families arrived at the University of Virginia Medical Center on Jan. 25.

In four hours that day, two teams of doctors wheeled Halterman in, took his kidney out, passed it to Shifflett and sewed both up.

Halterman woke up 10 pounds lighter after doctors removed his kidney and surrounding tissue. He’s got a 6-inch scar up his belly, but few other signs that he ever lost an organ.

“I feel normal,” Halterman said. “I don’t feel lopsided or anything.”

The surgery, he explains, was much less invasive than it would have been 11 years ago.

“They were going to have to cut me wide open, maybe take a rib out,” he said. “This time they go in with three little holes.”

He says he hopes it encourages other people to consider organ donation.

“Can everybody do this? No,” Halterman said. “But if you feel like it’s something you might be interested in, contact the transplant clinic. Get some information.”

Shifflett’s wife, Susan, says she’s grateful Halterman did.

“He sees there is this need. That’s the person he is,” Susan Shifflett, 59, said. “Then he goes and does it.”

It’s like one of those MasterCard commercials, she said. “This is priceless. We consider him a true American hero.”

Recovering At Home

Shifflett got out of the hospital one week ago today. Halterman went home a day earlier and has already returned to work.

It’ll be a little while longer until Shifflett returns, but he says he hopes it’s soon.

The guys at Atkins are ready to give him a hard time, Halterman said.

“They pick on us,” Halterman said. “We say Rick collects kidneys. He’s had four now.”

This kidney, Shifflett says, will last “20 or better years.”

“As long as I live,” he said confidently. “His kidney’s real good.”