WTOC, Savannah, Georgia, news, weather and sports | Tattnall friends prepare for kidney transplant
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GLENNVILLE, GA (WTOC) - Billy Allen and Wesley Kicklighter have known each other for years. Wesley grew up as a friend of Billy's late son. Allen suffered kidney failure in 2005. For more than 3 years, Billy's doctors searched nationwide for a kidney transplant. He never thought he'd find it in Glennville with Wesley.
"I'd never thought about it all this time he's been sick," said Kicklighter, a Glennville police detective. "It had never crossed my mind and its like the Lord put something on me."
"We were just talking a few months ago and he said he'd decided to get tested," Billy recalled. "I remember thinking there was no way he'd match."
Tests showed him as a perfect match. Wesley's friendship with Allen's son did not end with his death. Kicklighter and his wife adopted Allen's infant grandson and have raised him the last 13 years.
"I already think of him (Wesley) like a son," Billy added.
The surgery is scheduled for Friday and Allen faces a year of follow up exams to make sure his body accepts the kidney. Wesley also faces weeks of recovery. Both are cracking jokes now to fight the jitters.
"They're gonna take his left one and give it to me," Billy explained. "So I've told him to use the right one as much as he could and don't use the left one anymore."
"I told him he's gonna have to catch me and tie me down when we get to Atlanta," Wesley jabbed back.
Joking aside, Billy appreciates what Wesley modestly calls "the right thing to do".
"It's a miracle you know? There's no way I can ever repay him. There's nothing I can say to him," Allen said.
They both just hope this helps them stay friends for years to come.
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