Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part story. The second part will be in the Tuesday print edition of the Daily American Republic, or visit www.darnews.com.
Michele Bailey, a 60-year-old from Puxico, has four kidneys — the two she was born with, plus a couple of extras that are keeping her alive and healthy. Michele has had two kidney transplants in the past 17 years; the first one was from an expected source. The second, that was a bit of a stunner.
In 2004, Michelle, or Micky as she is better known, was diagnosed with kidney failure.
She spent a year on dialysis and in 2005 received a kidney transplant from her niece, Beverly Peters.
The transplant was successful, but Micky has struggled with the new kidney from the time she received it. In the past five years, it was getting progressively worse.
Doctors said she was going to need another kidney transplant to stay off dialysis because it was not filtering properly, and her remaining functioning kidney was failing. Friends and family were consulted, offers of donation were made, and tests were performed, but none of the kidneys tested were compatible.
“I had basically kind of given up,” Micky said. “I just didn’t think I was going to get one, it’s not going to happen, I’m going to have to go back to dialysis, you know, and that’s a horror on earth, that’s a terrible thing to go through.”
But what Micky didn’t know, and what nobody told her, is there was someone she knew who had decided to solve Micky’s problem. And to that person, it was something she felt called to do.
Angela Hensley, 43, better known as Angie, lives in Wappapello with her husband Kevin, who owns a business in Poplar Bluff. Angie has two daughters, Rhianne Hatton, 23, and Cheyenne Brown, 22. She works full-time at Puxico Nursing and Rehab as a licensed practical nurse.
In 2018, she worked at the Puxico Medical Clinic, which is where she met Micky, who worked there as a receptionist. Angie liked working there and enjoyed the atmosphere.
“We were like a little family at the clinic,” she said.
Angie knew Micky was suffering from something, but had no idea what it was.
“I knew Micky had been sick, but I’m not really too nosy, so I didn’t get into specifics with anybody,” she explained. “Probably about a year and a half after I was at the clinic, I found out Micky was needing a kidney. At the time, I was under the understanding that some family member was going to be donating a kidney, so I didn’t really think much of it.
“Micky never complained about her health. The most I heard about her health was from my coworkers, and they would say she’s the sickest one here and she complains the least.”
It was a Facebook post from one of Micky’s daughters that set the wheels in motion for the biggest surprise of Micky’s life.
Angie learned one of the kidney donation options fell through.
“I’d actually been thinking about filling out the paperwork and getting the donor process started because I just had a feeling,” she recalled. “It’s weird, but I had a feeling all along that I was going to donate my kidney to her, and so I thought about it for a really long time because I knew it was a big decision and I didn’t say anything to anybody.”
When Angie saw that Facebook post, her mind was made up.
She was going to donate one of her healthy kidneys to someone she had worked with. Outside of work, the two of them did not socialize at all. But Angie was 100% positive she was going to donate her kidney.
“It felt like this is something I was being called to do, and I think God put me at the clinic so I could give Micky my kidney. Fate would bring us together and I could give her my kidney,” Angie explained. “I felt like I was going to be a match.
“The hardest part was telling my husband and the rest of my family what I was planning on doing. We got the paperwork started and did the testing, and, lo and behold, I was a match.”
Angie knew what she was doing was necessary and she didn’t take the decision lightly.
“I think about it and it actually kind of makes me want to cry so I try not to think about it too much,” she said. “A few times, I had put myself in her shoes and my husband, he said, ‘I can’t imagine what she must feel like,’ and I and I felt that too.”
All of this occurred in a matter of months. Angie decided she was going to donate her kidney around August 2020.
She started the process, filled out the paperwork, got tested, and sometime around the turn of the year, she found out she was a match.
Her family and a few of her coworkers knew what she was up to, but there was one person who had no idea — Micky.
To read the rest of Micky and Angie’s journey, pick up the Tuesday print edition of the Daily American Republic, or visit www.darnews.com.