For the past three years, Kimberly Smith has been one of 70,000 people nationwide on the waiting list for a kidney. But she was running out of time.
So she turned to her pastor at Victory Christian Center, and he turned to his congregation.
"He told them, you know it was pretty serious if I didn't soon get a kidney, which was true that my life would be cut short," Smith said.
But this 54-year-old who took in 28 foster children over the years kept the faith.
"I always knew God was going to do something," Smith said. "I just didn't know what. I didn't know when, didn't know how."
Jason Evans -- in church that Sunday -- heard Kimberly's plea and decided he was the one to answer her prayers.
"I just felt that God really spoke to me and said you know this is something you can do," Evans said. "He said she was O positive blood. I knew I was O positive blood."
So Evans told his family and decided to pursue the other tests.
"We leave no stone unturned to make sure this is going to be a safe operation for the recipient," said Dr. Charles Modlin, a transplant surgeon at Cleveland Clinic.
Evans said he'd never met Smith and didn't introduce himself during the project. He said he waited until he knew he was a good match.
"In late September, a man came up to me and told me that he was going to give me a kidney," Smith said.
Evans said she was ecstatic.
"She just broke down crying and just couldn't believe it," he said.
The successful transplant took place last week at the Cleveland Clinic. Modlin said it is an unusual situation which has happened before, but that speaks highly of Evans.
"The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude," Smith said.
Thanksgiving takes on a whole new meaning this year for one Campbell woman suffering from kidney disease.
