'Our Daddy Needs a Kidney' Photo Helping Cop Find Donor
Photo courtesy of Brandy Angel Photography
Raleigh and Kristi Callaway have a reputation in their hometown of Greensboro, Georgia, for helping others. But when 49-year-old Raleigh found out that he needed a kidney transplant, the community rallied to help him. Raleigh, a police officer, has diabetes and hypertension, and a few months ago, doctors told him that his kidneys were operating at only a 10 percent level. At first, he continued to work as normal and didn’t want to tell anyone that he was sick.
“With being a police officer, he didn’t want to be viewed as sick. He didn’t want them to think he wasn’t capable,” Kristi explains to Yahoo Health. The couple met 14 years ago when Kristi was a server at a restaurant that Raleigh visited regularly. They married in 2004 and have two daughters, Delaini, 4, and 2-year-old Braleigh.
Photo courtesy of Brandy Angel Photography
Kristi knew that her reserved, unassuming husband needed a special way to tell everyone that he was sick and needed help. That special way came in the form of Brandy Angel, a local photographer who is known for donating her services to organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She did a free family photo shoot for the Callaways, with the girls holding up a sign reading “Our Daddy needs a Kidney.” Right now, Raleigh’s best option is a living donor. Because his disease is genetic, no one in his family can be a donor.
“I was so moved to help in any way,” Angel tells Yahoo Shine. She was even tested to be a potential donor, but she didn’t qualify as a match. “Raleigh, Kristi, and their girls have been such a cherished part of the community that people immediately wanted to help in any way they could.”
But Angel knew that simply taking photographs wasn’t enough. She promised the Callaways that she would do whatever she could to help get their story out. She shared the photos on her Facebook page, and they quickly began racking up shares and likes. “They truly are a special family and are in desperate need of a miracle. So I wanted to help that miracle happen,” Angel says.
Atlanta-area news affiliate WXIA ran a story about the family, and thanks to that coverage and Angel's photos, more than 300 strangers have called Emory University Hospital, where Raleigh is being treated, to get tested as a potential match. “It has been insane. Way beyond anything we could have imagined,” Kristi says. “Nobody in the community even knew he had kidney disease. He was very, very private. Now they’re calling me offering to do fundraisers, make T-shirts.”
Over the next four to six weeks, Emory will begin testing the volunteers to see if they are a match for Raleigh. Anyone interested in being tested as a potential donor may contact Emory’s transplant division at 855-366-7989.
