Sheriff offered his kidney to save his dad, but doctors said he wasn’t a match — so he made a choice that saved five lives
A desire to help one person can sometimes end up saving many more lives. For Mercer County Sheriff Doug Timmerman, it began as an attempt to help his own father by donating his kidney, but it ultimately led to a life-saving gift for five strangers. The 53-year-old sheriff, according to the Daily Standard, shared that having been the subject of many blessings throughout his life, felt compelled to give back by donating a kidney. Timmerman initially wanted to donate his kidney to his father, but he wasn’t a match. However, he decided to move forward anyway and become an altruistic donor at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center’s Comprehensive Transplant Center. His decision not only provided a kidney to Joy Wagner of Newark, but it triggered a chain of intricate, five-way kidney transplant involving five living donors and five recipients.
Dr. Amer Rajab, a transplant surgeon at OSUWM, who performs an average of 600 solid organ transplants each year, said, “This generous man helped five recipients. I mean, yes, he could have donated to one, but because of him, we were able to do this exchange. … So we had five patients off dialysis by Christmas.” Timmerman shared that he saw the donation as a way to pay forward the kindness he has received throughout his life.
He shared that he was inspired by a fellow Ohio sheriff, who “got a kidney a couple of years ago, and obviously it saved his life,” Timmerman said. “I reached out to him, spoke to him. Obviously, he was a recipient, but was a very positive person, full of life.” Timmerman’s journey began in December 2023, when his father was diagnosed with kidney disease. He said, “My dad had been diagnosed with kidney disease a couple of years ago, and I originally started down this path with the hopes that I would be able to donate to him. But because of his medical condition, that didn't allow for it. I was already in the testing process at that point.”
During this process, he connected with other donors in Mercer County. He understood that the screening process is demanding but necessary, adding, “That has to do with your own health to make sure you're donating a healthy kidney. At the end of May, I got the OK from Ohio State saying you'd be a good candidate.” When he questioned whether his kidney would even be a match, he was reassured. “They kind of shrugged it off quickly and went, 'Oh, you're going to match somebody, because there's 90-some thousand people in the United States that are waiting on a kidney,'” Timmerman said. His wife, Jill, and daughters Sammi and Siera, Timmerman committed to the surgery. “I've got the best family in the world that's always supportive,” he said. “I've got a great sheriff's office family that's supportive, and it made the decision easy.”
OSUWMC staff worked around his schedule, knowing he was serving his first term as sheriff, and began organizing a transplant chain. Timmerman said, “So in November is when I kind of got the word from him, going, 'We're ready to go.'” A kidney transplant chain allows donors to give kidneys to recipients they do not know, while their intended loved ones receive compatible organs from other donors. Wagner’s husband had wanted to donate a kidney to her, but was not a match. “And then Joy's husband donated to another young lady whom he matched,” Timmerman explained. “She had a family or a friend that donated on her behalf to somebody else, and it went on down the line until it got to the end.”
Dr. Rajab shared that such chains occur fewer than 10 times a year at OSUWMC. “We are doing a few hundred transplants a year, so less than 10 times we get people so generous like this sheriff who calls and comes here just wanting to donate a kidney to somebody, literally, and they don't even ask, 'Who is that somebody?'” Rajab said. On December 12, Timmerman went for the surgery. “Dr. Schenk had harvested my kidney and handed it within seconds to Dr. Rajab, who went into the next room and gave it to Joy,” he said. “It's amazing how they have two separate teams down there.”
“We like to give the new kidney blood from the recipient within less than 30 minutes after we take it from the other body,” he said. Timmerman met Wagner before being discharged and again days later. When he asked to stay in touch, her response surprised him. “I told her at the hospital … 'I don't ever want to overstep my bounds, but I'd like to stay in contact,' and her exact words were, 'Oh, we're family now.' So we're staying in contact.” As for his own recovery, Timmerman said he is healing steadily. “It's a significant surgery, and I feel like I'm healing well,” he said. “Walking is a big thing, staying very hydrated to protect the one good kidney you have, and simple things like salt intake. You have to watch salt intake.”