Three Members of North Texas Family Donate Kidneys to Strangers

FORT WORTH, Texas - While some people may give you the shirt off their back, three members of one North Texas family have donated something a lot closer to their hearts - a kidney to a stranger in need.

It started with Joel Nickerson, a 43-year-old wastewater plant manager who donated a kidney in September 2023, after signing up through the National Kidney Foundation.

In December, Ava Nickerson, Joel's mother and a science teacher at Valley View High School, followed her son's lead and donated a kidney at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth.

And most recently, Randy Nickerson, Joel's father and Ava's husband, returned to Texas Health Fort Worth on July 24 and donated a kidney as well.

"I just look at our lives and my life and how blessed we've been, and I've got one to give and if somebody can use it, then why not?" said Randy Nickerson, a 70-year-old licensed professional counselor and retired firefighter. "It's just what we should do."

For staff at Texas Health Fort Worth, where the parents' surgeries were performed, the family's kindness is inspiring and a first.

"Since our kidney transplant program began in 1986, we have never before had two living donors from the same immediate family," said Robyn Dye, administrator of the program. "To know that three members of the same family volunteered to give life to strangers in need is truly amazing, and we are grateful that Texas Health Fort Worth was able to play a part."

An idea takes root

The idea to donate a kidney was first planted when Joel Nickerson read a magazine article by a man who had given his kidney to a stranger.

"I didn't even know it was possible," Joel Nickerson said. "I knew people needed kidneys but didn't know how it happened."

The idea grew in Joel, and one day, without even telling his plans to his wife, Jessica, he went to the National Kidney Foundation website and signed up to be a donor.

"I take 'love thy neighbor' seriously, so I've always looked for those opportunities," Joel said. "I saw it being a day in the hospital, a couple weeks' recovery and that's it - you give somebody a new lease on life. That's a small price to pay, and the risks just aren't that big compared to the payback."

The idea spreads

Ava Nickerson had once toyed with the idea of donating after learning a friend of a friend needed a kidney, but her busy schedule kept it a passing thought. After watching her son donate, she decided to make it work.

"I reached out to Texas Health, and then Randy saw the email," Ava Nickerson, 70, said, erupting into laughter. "I didn't tell him I was going to do it."

"That's how we do things," Randy quipped. "We just spring stuff on each other in this family."

Ava had her surgery during her holiday break from school, one of three North Texas educators who donated kidneys over a three-day span at Texas Health Fort Worth.

Her husband had no concerns about her decision.

"I trust God, and it just never entered my mind that she would be in any danger," Randy said. "I thought, 'She's doing this out of the goodness of her heart.' I wasn't worried. Not at all."

Father makes three

Randy Nickerson initially believed he was too old to donate a kidney. But when he later learned there is no maximum age limit, he jumped on the bandwagon. Texas Health Fort Worth has facilitated more than 1,250 transplants since the program's beginning; Randy was its 173rd living donor.

"I had the luxury of walking alongside Ava every step of her trip. I went to Fort Worth with her, all of her tests and everything she'd gone through, I knew what to expect … and they make it as easy as possible for you," he said.

Adding to his motivation, he said, was a card that his wife had received from her kidney recipient. In the note, the recipient thanked Ava for her generosity and helping him get his life back and told her that he prays for her every day.

"You see that this is having a real-life impact on a person," Randy said. "That put a little more emphasis on it and made it a little easier to drive to Fort Worth and back every time we had to go down there. You know, hopefully, it's going to impact somebody's life for the better."

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