Marcy Shipp

Marcy Shipp made the ultimate sacrifice, donating one of her kidneys to Dianna Brewer, her friend and fellow church member. Dianna needed the transplant because she suffered from polycystic kidney disease and was on dialysis. Through testing, Marcy was determined to be a good donor match, but the director of transplantation at Houston Methodist J.C. Walter Jr. Transplant Center, Dr. A. Osama Gaber, contacted her before scheduling the surgery to ask if she would be willing to take her gift a step further.

Marcy’s blood type made her a match for another patient who did not yet have an eligible donor. After getting confident answers to her countless questions, she made the decision to save three lives with her one donation. On February 9, 2010, six surgeries and three successful transplants at Houston Methodist created new lives for three people.

"I feel great," she says. "I never imagined how easy it was to donate, and the only difficult thing was realizing after it was all over that I couldn't do it again. I would do it a thousand times if I could, for so many reasons."