I am the 4th youngest of five children. I grew up playing football, basketball and baseball in high school. Upon graduation I studied engineering at Virginia Tech. After graduating from Virginia Tech in 2001, I married my bride, Wendy. In 2007 I went through a series of compatibility tests and then in the spring of 2008 I gave a kidney to my oldest brother. Since that time, I have had very minor side effects, if any, and continue to play sports recreationally. In 2009 my wife and I welcome our first daughter, Daisy and in 2011 our second daughter, Rose. My three ladies bring me unending joy.

Hope is important to me, more so giving hope to others. Through donating I was able to give a little hope to my brother for a better life, a better tomorrow. My hope is that others will also be able to give this gift of hope, by becoming living donors themselves, so that we all may have a hope for a brighter tomorrow.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4

My oldest brother, seven years older than me, had been diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis. He had been on dialysis for 23 months, which consumed his entire life. In need of a transplant, my siblings and I were all tested and I was the best match among my siblings. In the spring of 2008, at the age of 29, I donated my kidney to my brother. The question to donate for me took very little consideration. My brother was dying and needed a kidney, which I could give with little cost and impact on my life. I would do it again.