DALLAS — Jereme Peterson needed a miracle to happen after three years and ten hours a day on dialysis. The 42-year-old federal corrections officer had hit rock bottom with his weight at 315 pounds and his kidney function approaching the single digits. "'What would happen if I stopped doing dialysis?' And he was like, 'you got two months to live, get your affairs in order,'" he recalled his doctor saying.
His name was added to the transplant waiting list but he said it could take five to seven years to get a kidney. It was a miracle that his high school classmate from 25 years ago in Blountstown, Florida was going through her phone one night and saw a social media post from Peterson pleading for a donor. Angelina Attaway felt the call to help.
"I could just see the relief and I think that was more heavy than anything you know," said Attaway. Representatives at Medical City Dallas tell WFAA that Attaway intended to be anonymous. The recipient often does not know the donor's identity until a year after the surgery.
But, it was pure happenstance that the two of them were in the hospital lobby together while trying to pre-register the day before surgery. "She said, 'Yeah, this is Angie' and I'm like 'Angie girl, how you doing?' You know, I give her a big hug and everything and I instantly forget where I'm at," said Jereme. Peterson said he saw a face he recognized.
The two hugged in the middle of the lobby. And, that's when Angelina broke the news to him that she was his donor. .