The Most Unlikely Donor

Last November, Terrell Potter, a former officer with the Phil Campbell Police Department in Alabama, learned that his kidney was failing. Doctors prepared him for the reality of a seven to eight-year waiting period for a compatible donor, a wait he might not survive.

“We began praying about getting the right kidney,” Potter said. The family began reaching out to potential donors across the southeast. But little could they know that the perfect match would be just two miles away, in the body of a most unlikely prospect.

On the other side of town, Jocelynn James was scrolling through her Facebook feed when she saw the post about Potter’s search. She knew Potter well. She remembers, “I just threw my phone down and the holy spirit told me right then that I had that man’s kidney.”

This level of sacrifice is always admirable, but James willingness to be a donor was totally unexpected. In a recent interview, Potter shared:

If you asked me 100 names of who may give me a kidney, her name would have not been on the list. It’s just unbelievable that she was willing to do that.

Why? Because between 2007-2012, James was arrested 16 times for theft and drug charges, once even appearing on “Franklin’s Most Wanted.” And on multiple occasions, Potter was the arresting officer.

James, who has been clean for 7 years now, said “I was just living a really bad life, doing a lot of really bad things that I shouldn’t have had no business doing, and I was just a really lost person. . . I was sick of living that life.”

James was tested, found to be a perfect match, and last month she made the sacrifice that saved Potter’s life. Citing her faith, James said it was very humbling that God would use a piece of her, with a body that she says she harmed for a long time, to extend someone’s life. She concludes,

“God restored me from the inside out, and to be able to give another human a kidney to extend his life is really rewarding.”