On Feb. 20, Steve Parrish was given a second chance at life by a member of his Sunday School class. He was diagnosed two years ago — on his 36th birthday — with a rare genetic disease that left his kidneys declining at a rapid rate.
When Christi Walker Millo heard Parrish’s wife mention a prayer request for a kidney donor for her husband in Sunday School at Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, she instantly felt compelled to help.
“I felt God saying, ‘You do that,’” said Millo, an active member of Eastmont Baptist Church, Montgomery, in Montgomery Baptist Association before getting married. “It was weird because I didn’t know you could donate an organ if you weren’t a family member, but I saw her crying and I knew they had four little kids under the age of 9.”
She contacted her doctor and began the testing procedure before the Parrishs knew what she was doing. The testing process was grueling — first a phone interview, then blood work and finally undergoing two nights of intense testing at UAB Hospital in Birmingham to see if she was healthy enough to live without a kidney.
“Doctors kept asking why I would give to him without being a family member,” Millo said. “I was very determined that I wanted to do this and felt like God was calling me to do it. I somehow knew all along that I was going to be the match.”
She found out around Christmas that she was indeed capable of being a donor, though she didn’t know she was the match until later. Millo’s family wasn’t sure what to say because she had “always been a really big baby when it comes to going to the doctor.”
“I’m a big wimp when it comes to needles,” Millo said. “I hadn’t ever given blood before, and here I was looking at surgery.”
Parrish had also been “in complete shock” when he first received news of his chronic kidney failure because no one in his family had shown signs of this disease. But he and his wife have claimed that “God is good” since the night they received the news. They said it has been a remarkable journey ever since.
“It’s amazing to hear what God can do when you’re obedient,” Steve Parrish said, referring to Millo’s fear of needles.
On the day of the surgery, doctors removed her left kidney and used it to replace Parrish’s right one. Almost immediately, his new kidney began to function perfectly — better than doctors anticipated.
“He was up walking around and came to see me in the hospital room before I was able to get up,” Millo said. She is still a little sore and walking a bit slower but said it’s a gratifying feeling to know she’s helped somebody like that. “It’s worth it when you get to see the look on their face.”
Both Parrish and Millo give glory to God for opening all the right doors and putting them in the same Sunday School class together. “We didn’t have to keep looking for a donor because Christi just knew she was the one,” Parrish said. “She was so obedient to God.”
Claiming Psalm 28:6–7, Parrish said that God has indeed been good every step of the way.
Evangelist Bobby Britt knows exactly what Parrish is talking about. It’s been four years since his kidney transplant, and he is as active in the pulpit as ever. “My donor has let me preach four more years, and I’ve seen a good number of people saved,” Britt said.
In January 2001, 25-year-old Ashley Fisher heard him preach at her church, First Baptist, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association, and learned of his need for a kidney transplant during a prayer session. After five years on dialysis, he received a kidney from Fisher.
“I urge people to be living donors; I am a strong advocate because it did save my life,” Britt said. “Being on this side of it, I couldn’t understand why someone would be reluctant to do it. It is a Christian responsibility.”
The National Kidney Foundation estimates one in nine adults in the United States has chronic kidney disease and another 20 million are at increased risk.
With more than 60,000 people on a waiting list for an organ, Millo is now a strong believer in living donors. “There is a higher rate of acceptance from a living donor, and most people don’t know that,” she said.
Her recipient joins her in her advocacy.
“God has given us wonderful technology,” Parrish said. “I don’t think it’s His will that some die on a waiting list.”
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