Billboard convinces truck driver to give kidney to total stranger

UPDATE Nov. 30, 2018: Lisa Timmons, who is married to Tony Timmons, says the kidney transplant went well and both men are now recovering.

A billboard convinced Tony Timmonsto donate a kidney, and, in exchange, he found a friend.

Timmons drives trucks out of Airdrie, Alta. One day on his way to work,he spotted a giant sign with a plea: "Ryan Mclennan needs a living kidney donor, blood type O."

"It just made me feel obligated, you know, because the guy's really desperate,"Timmonstold the Calgary Eyeopeneron Monday.

On Wednesday, he goes under the knife. One of his two kidneys will be placedin Mclennan's body, a life-saving transplant for the man in renal failure.

'I got to do something'

Mclennan'swife,ShakinaMclennan, bought 27 billboards, making their heart-wrenching situation hard to miss.

The unorthodox plea for donations made headlines last winter, and it got results. Mclennan received about170 calls, with50 applying tosee if they were a match. TheKidney Foundation in Calgaryalso reported dozens of donation inquiries.

After Timmons spotted one of the advertisements, his wife showed him a news clip about the family. Mclennan's own mother had donated a kidney to him 15 years ago but that one was now failing.

"She couldn't donate, obviously, her last one and he never had no family members that could," Timmons said. "So I just said I got to do something, someone's got to do something."

Miraculously, he was a match, which is no small feat. Others have been tested to see if they'd match withMclennan with no luck.

Mclennan said he's still surprised the billboards worked.

"You don't believe it," he said. "Your head is in the clouds and you just can't believe that this day is going to come....

"It's almost like you're drowning and someone jumps in and saves you and it takes sometimes a very, very, very special person to do that."

New friends, a 'huge bonus'

The "huge bonus," Mclennan said, is he has gotten to know Timmons, which would be impossible with an anonymous donation.

The two couples are like family now, Lisa Timmons said. They had dinner together Sunday night to get mentally prepared for surgery this week.

Lisa said she admires her husband, who very much doesn't like to be centre of attention, for doing the selfless act out of kindness and not for publicity.

"There's a reason why I married him, for one, because he'skind-hearted, he's generous and he puts other people first," Timmons said.

Mclennan said he's looking forward to the transplant he expects will change his life "100 per cent."

"I'm getting a third chance. I mean, right now,I'm very restricted in so many of the things I can do," he said. "I know what it's like to have a transplant and I know what it's like to change my life, so that's why this one's so important."

Mclennanwas a mechanic when he was first diagnosed with kidney failure in 2003. He then retrained as a teacher and nowteaches shop at FatherLacombeHigh School.

After some recovery, Mclennanhopes to get back into the classroom. Timmons said he also expects to limit his time off work, although doctors have asked him to rest for three months.

Healso says he'snot as nervous as perhaps he should be,choosing instead to put his trust in the health-care system.

"I think it'll be all right. I mean, things go on, made a new friend. That's about it," Timmons said with a laugh.

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