A Lost Brother's Gift Of Life
A 41-year-old man found his family and saved new brother's life with a kidney.
Mar. 21, 2008— -- An adopted man looking for his biological family wound up saving his long-lost brother's life by donating a kidney to him.
Just a few months ago, 35-year-old Clay Hayden's life was in danger. His kidney was failing. He'd already had one transplant 11 years ago when his mother, Alma Lynne Hayden, gave Clay one of her kidneys.
Left with only one kidney, Alma Lynne couldn't step in to save her son again.
Clay's savior came from his mother's teenage past.
Forty-one years ago, an unwed 18-year-old Alma Lynne gave up a baby boy for adoption. She eventually had two more children, Clay and Seth, with the boy's father, but she never forgot her firstborn.
"Every time it was a birthday I could see my two and I'd always visualize what he looked like," Alma Lynne said.
She registered with the state of South Carolina's social services agency, hoping someday to hear from him.
"As the years went by, he didn't find us," said Alma Lynne.
Meanwhile her first son, David Lister, was being brought up in a loving home with a sister who was also adopted.
"I didn't really have the drive to find my biological parents," said Lister. "I've been curious, yes, but never enough to initiate that search."
It wasn't until last year when faced with his own son's medical problem that David got curious about his medical history. Then at age 40, he discovered his biological mother lived just a few states away. He drove to her town and made a life-altering phone call.
"This precious voice said, 'You don't know me but my name is David Lister and I think you're my mother.' I said, 'Where are you honey? I know you're my son, I know I'm your mother. Where are you?' He says 'I'm riding up and down in front of your house.' And I said, 'Can you come home?'" Alma Lynne said.
Lister said he felt an emotional connection the moment he met his birth mother.
"As soon as we touched hands it was like my whole body went flush. From the nape of my neck to the bottom of my feet – weirdest sensation I'd felt in my whole life," he said.
"All I could say over and over is, 'Please forgive me, please forgive me because I really wanted you,'" said Alma Lynne.
It was the meeting Alma Lynne had always dreamed of, and better. She told David he has two biological brothers and that one desperately needed a kidney. Without hesitation, David offered his own kidney to save the life of his brother he had never met.
"I said, 'Dave I couldn't ask you to do that, you just met us.' He said, 'I know I'm supposed to do that, I want to do that,'" she said.
"I was more than willing to make the sacrifice," Lister said.
Lister's kidney was a close match and the transplant occurred just weeks ago without a hitch.
Now recovering and doing well, Clay Hayden said he feels like the "luckiest man in the world. Not only because of the kidney, but because our brother's back, and he's back in our lives with no hatred, no resentment. There wasn't a time that he needed to get over what happened, he was open arms as soon as he found us."
"That's just unconditional love beyond anything. This isn't even someone you grew up with stepping forward. This is a wonderful gift that his brother did," said Dr. Kenneth Chavin at the Medical University of South Carolina.
"Good Morning America" found out about the Hayden family's story thanks to a note from the Medical University of South Carolina, where doctors and staff wanted to share one family's medical miracle.