Woman finds kidney thanks to billboard campaign

  • 2019-10-16
A local woman’s ordeal may be over, thanks to an innovative way of finding a donor.

Verna Johnson had been on a waiting list for a new kidney for more than a year. She has been forced to perform kidney dialysis at home for eight hours every day in that time.

Billboards, banner printing, and internet ads were part of a campaign Johnson used to look for a potential donor. Now that she has found one, the messages on the billboards which were put up in Montgomery and Birmingham have changed from “Verna Needs a Kidney,” to “Verna Got a Kidney.”

Jamie Burchfield is the name of the living donor who will give Verna a kidney. Burchfield first saw Verna’s campaign on a Facebook post. She then signed up, went through all the tests, and was confirmed as a match.

Johnson was overjoyed when she received the phone call that a match was found. Burchfield showed up by surprise at a celebratory dinner for Johnson, much to her surprise. Johnson went on to say:

“To all the people that’s on dialysis, kidney failure, looking at dialysis- it can be very dark and bleak and you don’t know where your future is going to be but I sit here today with you to let everybody know don’t give up.”

Her operation is scheduled for the end of October.