Pastor Donates Kidney to Stranger He Just Met - During the Surgery, Doctors Make a Shocking Discovery

Do you believe in divine intervention? If not, your opinion might change after hearing the moving story involving Pastor Tim Jones and a chance encounter.

How One Uneventful Day Led to an Unexpected Friendship

One uneventful day, a North Carolina man and his wife were looking for yard sales when they heard gospel music coming from a nearby church. The music would prove to alter their lives, in ways no one could predict. Don, the husband, happened to be a gospel singer, and followed the sounds inside where he met someone who would go on to change his life -- Pastor Tim Jones.

The two struck up conversation, and bonded over a shared love of singing. Pastor Jones invited Don to participate in an upcoming performance, and the two struck up a brief acquaintance. What Jones did not know, however, was that Don was unfortunately fighting a worsening health ailment.

A couple of months before they met, Don had undergone a liver transplant that was supposed to help his condition, but then his kidneys started failing.

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Despite the bleak outlook of his condition at the time, Don kept the faith, telling a news network, “I had a strong faith that God was going to take care of me no matter what happened.” 

However, Don was facing some serious time constraints, as doctors at Duke Medical Center soon found blockages in his heart, requiring cardiac catheterization -- another serious procedure.

According to the doctors, Don's kidneys wouldn’t be able to make it through the surgery, and he would need a kidney donor. Though he was on the list for a transplant, doctors told him it could take up to even years to find a suitable kidney donor -- time he did not have.

How One Man Donated His Kidney to a Person He Had Just Met

Don kept the faith, though, and Pastor Jones would wind up being a true harbinger.

Like many stories we have covered recently, social media enters to play an unexpected role. Don's wife, Belinda, turned to an invisible network of friends and strangers alike to share their medical predicament, and ask for help.

In a long heartfelt post, she wrote, "I'm (Belinda) asking you to be much in prayer with me for him." She shared that he needed a heart procedure, but his kidneys were too weak, and they could not wait for a transplant through the traditional system.

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She put out an open request for a donor, sharing that she would do it herself, but did not have the insurance necessary to cover costs of the procedure. The comment section filled quickly with prayers for the couple, and well-wishes, but the series of events that would unfold took everyone by surprise.

Of all the people who saw the Facebook post, Pastor Tim Jones reached out, so moved by the post, that he offered to donate his kidney despite only meeting Don two weeks prior. It turned out he was a perfect match -- a one in 20,000 chance.

The Big Surprise Doctors Discovered During Surgery

Had the two never connected weeks earlier after Don overheard some singing, Pastor Tim Jones never would have had the chance to step up and be a hero in such an inspiring way. Donating a kidney is no small gesture, and Pastor Jones volunteered to undergo the procedure for a near-stranger with little hesitation.

However, the surprises do not end there. Though Pastor Jones was in the operating room to save Don, while in surgery doctors discovered that he had an aneurysm, which if not discovered could have been fatal. An aneurysm is an abnormal ballooning in the wall of a blood vessel, which can burst and cause life-threatening internal bleeding.

In electing to undergo the procedure and save Don's life, Pastor Jones might have just had his own life saved in the process.

The story defies all odds, and serves as an important reminder of empathy, generosity, and karma. No matter how bleak the situation seemed for Don at different points, he always kept his faith.

In a follow-up Facebook post a year later, Belinda shared a touching update, reminding how "a surgery to save one life became a Miracle and saved two lives."

Sometimes, real life is stranger than fiction, and this story could not have been scripted better. Pastor Tim Jones exemplifies the adage "love thy neighbor."