For evangelist Bobby Britt, tears of pain and helplessness have been replaced with tears of joy. Prayers for healing have been replaced with prayers of thanksgiving, and a diseased pair of kidneys have been replaced with a healthy one.
That’s because after waiting five years and seven months for a kidney transplant, his prayer for a second chance at life was answered Jan. 4.
Britt’s gift from God came in the form of a vivacious 25-year-old Christian woman, Ashley Fisher. Fisher offered Britt her kidney last Valentine’s Day after finding out she was a compatible donor.
In January 2001 Ashley heard Britt preach at her church, First Baptist Church, Trussville, and learned of his need for a kidney transplant during a prayer session with her singles department.
Fisher said she felt God telling her to donate Britt a kidney and after going through compatibility testing and being approved, the two were scheduled for surgery June 29, 2001. Shortly after being checked into the hospital and undergoing routine tests, it was discovered that a blood transfusion given to Britt six months earlier during gall bladder surgery had produced antibodies that could possibly cause organ rejection. At the midnight hour, the transplant surgery had to be indefinitely postponed and Britt was sent home to wait.
Now, seven months later, Britt rests in his University (UAB) Hospital room recovering from the successful surgery. An exhausted but thrilled Britt said, “It’s just taken patience on my part. I just had to wait on the Lord’s time, not mine.”
Britt’s wife, Carolyn, said the seven-month wait was rough on everyone. “Bobby was getting weaker and weaker, but he kept preaching. (Britt serves as interim pastor at First Baptist Church, Palmerdale.) He only missed a couple of Sundays,” she explained, adding that he delivered his sermons while sitting on a stool.
“We’ve had so many people praying for us,” Carolyn said. “There were about 25 people in the waiting room with me,” she said.
Carolyn said that although her husband is still weak, he is making progress every day. “He’s so anxious to get up and going that he overdid it the first few days. We’re having to make him stay quiet and limit his visitors,” she explained.
Carolyn said the relationship she and her husband have established with Ashley is as close as any parent and child could be. “She will never know how grateful we are to her. Words just can’t express it adequately,” she said with a quivering voice. “Ashley is now part of our family.”
And how did Ashley fare in this life changing event? “I’ve amazed myself as well as my doctors,” she said. “I went home several days ahead of schedule. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected.”
Ashley asked her doctor if he could sew her up from the inside to avoid the railroad track scar left from staples. He agreed. “I got to visit Bro. Bobby before I went home, and we compared war wounds. My scar was definitely prettier than his,” she said with a chuckle.
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