Former Fayette County deputy to receive kidney transplant before Christmas

Former Fayette deputy finds match for new kidney

A former Fayette County deputy is getting her own Christmas miracle with word that a kidney transplant match has been found. It ends her three years on the transplant list. FOX 5’s Doug Evans first introduced us to Shaina McCoy last March and has this update on her story.

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. - A former Fayette County deputy will receive a kidney transplant just before Christmas after a match was found, ending her three-year wait on the transplant list.

What we know:

Shaina McCoy is scheduled to receive the donated kidney at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital. She has been on dialysis for more than three years while waiting for a transplant.

McCoy was joined recently by two men who helped make the transplant possible. One is Randy Simpkins, founder of the End the Wait Foundation. The other is Tim Torborg, a stranger who donated a kidney through a paired exchange program, allowing McCoy’s name to move up the transplant list.

What they're saying:

"Oh, he’s family now. He’s absolutely family now. Yeah. So selfless thing you can do for somebody is give up an organ, you know?" McCoy said.

Torborg learned of McCoy’s need through Simpkins’ foundation. While Torborg was not eligible to donate directly to McCoy, his kidney was transplanted into a 70-year-old man in New York. In return, Torborg received a voucher that could be used to advance another patient on the transplant list, and he chose McCoy.

"So the way the voucher program works is you can get five of them out, but only one can be redeemed. So you’re redeeming the voucher that Tim gave us," Simpkins said.

"That’s right," Torborg responded.

McCoy said the transplant will mean freedom from dialysis for the first time in years.

"You know, I’ve been living on the machine for over three years now, and to not have to rely on a machine to live this, I can’t imagine," she said.

Simpkins said the demand for kidney donors remains overwhelming.

"You don’t realize that this need is out there," he said. "38 million people in the United States have chronic kidney disease, one out of seven worldwide, nine out of ten don’t know they have it, and most don’t find out until it’s, you know, so late that they’re having to just be facing with having to face dialysis."

Simpkins, who is also a pastor at a Carroll County church, said he, McCoy and Torborg plan to attend services together this Sunday so he can pray for McCoy’s outcome.

The backstory:

McCoy, a former Fayette County Sheriff’s Office deputy and mother of two, has been seeking a kidney transplant after reaching end-stage kidney failure caused by IgA vasculitis. 

She previously told FOX 5 Atlanta she was undergoing daily dialysis, a nine-hour process, and partnered with Randy Simpkins’ End the Wait Foundation to raise awareness and encourage living kidney donation. 

The foundation organized a fundraising and informational event in Griffin in March as McCoy urged potential donors to get tested and learn about organ donation.