As most people who work in retail can tell you, there are good customers who make your day go by faster and bad customers who make you want to quit your job. And, usually, there are a few regulars who truly make your job worthwhile. But how far would you go to help a favorite customer? One grocery store cashier in Mississippi didn’t hesitate when she had the opportunity to upend a favorite customer’s world in the best way possible – by donating a kidney.
Mobile, Alabama, resident Eddie Drummond is a regular at Wayne Lee’s Grocery and Market in Pascagoula, Mississippi. He stops there every morning on his way to work for a hot breakfast.
He said:
“I get here about 5 in the morning. That’s the only place that’s open.”
Eddie is always a cheerful soul with a smile for everyone at Wayne Lee’s. So, one of the cashiers was surprised when Eddie showed up at the store one morning with a pained expression on his face. When asked what was wrong, Eddie explained that his wife, Donnie, was on dialysis and wasn’t in good shape. She would need a kidney transplant to save her life.
Cashier Leilani Aguirre Crocker responded with much more than a comforting word. She responded by offering to give Eddie’s wife one of her own kidneys.
She explained:
“I told him I’ll give her mine. And he was shocked.”
Eddie was so shocked, he wasn’t completely sure Aguirre was being serious.
“I really thought she was playing until she told me to set it up with my insurance company.” [2]
You might expect a family member or a close friend to offer a kidney, but it’s not every day that a relative stranger offers to go under the knife to save a customer. [1]
Eddie and Donnie Drummond have been married for 35 years. In 2015, Donnie was diagnosed with kidney failure and began undergoing dialysis. But her doctors made it clear: She was living on borrowed time unless she found a suitable kidney donor.
(Courtesy of Eddie Drummond) Eddie and Donnie Drummond, pictured in this undated photo, have been married for 32 years. Donnie Drummond was told she had kidney failure in 2015. Source: ABC News
It became evident that time was running out when Donnie went to the hospital after experiencing breathing problems for an entire day.
She said:
“Doctor said I got there just in time because I had a lot of fluid on my heart. I could have died in my sleep.”
Read: Daughter of Singer Amy Grant Gives her Best Friend a Kidney
An Unexpected, Life-Saving Gift
Eddie and Crocker decided to surprise Donnie with the news that she was going to receive the gift of life.
When Crocker, who got married shortly after making the amazing offer, showed up on Donnie’s doorstep, Donnie wasn’t sure what her intentions were. After all, Crocker was there asking to speak to her husband.
But when Crocker explained to Donnie that she wanted to give her a kidney, Donnie burst into tears and started screaming. She would have even more years with the man who was so heartbroken over the prospect of losing his beloved wife.
Donnie, 53, said: [2]
“I said, ‘God is so good, I’ve been praying for a miracle!'”
But it gets even better. Donnie and Crocker couldn’t have been a more perfect match; they both shared the same blood type, O-positive. [1]
Crocker’s reason for helping Donnie was simple, yet profound. She did it simply because she would have wanted someone to do the same for her, had she been the person in need.
Crocker asked:
“What if it happens to me and I need a stranger to come help me?”
Now, the bond between Crocker, her new husband, Adam, and the Drummonds is more like family than casual friends. They go to dinner together, attend church together, and they even spent the recent holidays together. [1] [2]
(Courtesy of Eddie Drummond) Adam Crocker and Leilani Aguirre Crocker got married shortly before she volunteered to donate her kidney to Donnie Drummond. Source: ABC News
Eddie told Crocker: [1]
“You will always be a part of us because you put an extension on my wife’s life, and I can’t thank you enough.”
Donnie will always be grateful for the gift of life that came at the perfect time.
“I asked for a miracle blessing, and (God) sent it to me because He’s not done with me on this earth.”
Crocker, an Army veteran and mother of 4, said: [2]
“It’s the right thing to do. Something inside of me is telling me to do this. God works in mysterious ways.”
The transplant is scheduled to take place later this spring at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. [1]
Sources:
[1] WDAM 7
[2] ABC News