Man donated kidney to woman he didn't know
It’s a place where you hear some of the most interesting stories, the barber or beauty shop.
That's where this Your Town Hero story begins.
Here’s the story of a hairdresser who needed a miracle and found it in the most unlikely place.
"You go to work, you go to dialyze, you go home, and you start over again."
Ginger Hardy's left arm is a reminder of what she went through for four years. Her kidneys failed and dialysis kept her alive. Ginger needed a kidney transplant. Two people were willing to be donors but it didn't work out. The dream of going back to a normal live began to slowly fade, but she still had hope.
"I thought it would be a very long time before I would get a kidney transplant," said Hardy.
She set in a dialysis chair, three times a week, four hours every single time, but she still held on to hope. And then one day, it came, from the most unlikely source.
"She expressed in January that she really thought this was going to be the year," recalls Ginger’s client Nancy Ragan.
Nancy Ragan lives in Gaylord and works as a nurse at Otsego Memorial Hospital. Ginger has been Nancy's hairdresser for six years. She watched dialysis progressively consume Ginger. She wanted to help. One day, she asked what type of blood Ginger had. Ginger said "O."
“I think my husband has type O, maybe he'd consider getting tested," said Ginger.
“You can do that? You can be a live donor?" laughs Ken Ragan, Nancy’s husband.
Nancy's husband Ken had never met Ginger, he only knew her as his wife's hairdresser. But he decided to check into being a possible donor.
“My wife's selling my organs for me!” laughed Ragan.
His blood type matched, and the doctor said several other tests would be performed before he'd be considered a donor match, which is a one in 10,000 chance. Everything came back positive, and Ken said it got real.
“You can talk about the one in 10,000, I was the one," said Ken.
On June 2nd of this year, perfect strangers were in surgery together at the University of Michigan Hospital. On June 3rd, a kidney transplant was a success. Today, Ginger has her life back.
“The reason I'm here today is so people understand transplantation is so important, so very, very important," said Ginger.
“Ginger asked how do you thank somebody for giving your life back. I really don't do it for the thanks, I'm just glad she got her life back," said Ken.
Six months later, the two are on with their lives, and both are advocates of the gift of life. Ken Ragan, a selfless man, offered a helping hand, a kidney, to Ginger, and that makes him this month's Your Town Hero.
