SAN DIEGO (KSWB/CNN) - A good police dispatcher is donating her kidney to a San Diego Police Officer who has been waiting two years for a donor.
Debra Ballard, a 24-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department's Communications Division will give up one of her kidneys to officer Art Calvert.
Calvert, who for decades has suffered from renal kidney disease, has waited almost two years for an organ donor.
He said he was overwhelmed that Ballard would make such a sacrifice for him.
"Out of the blue, my guardian angel in blue came along," Calvert told reporters outside the police department's Northern Division station. "She tested without even telling me. Next thing I know, she calls me up and says, 'Hey, I'm a match! When do you want to do this?'"
When Calvert got sick two years ago and needed a kidney transplant, the word was put out through social media. Ballard saw the post on Facebook and something moved her to get tested.
"It just kept nagging at me, and I was like, 'I've got to get there.' Something was pushing me, so I did and I’m like, 'Well, if I’m a match, it’s meant to be,''' Ballard said.
That was more than a year ago, but Calvert has not been healthy enough to undergo the operation. After putting it off several times, the transplant surgery is now scheduled for Feb. 7.
"Debra has given me something that I haven’t had for almost four years - I’ll get my life back," Calvert said. "I’ve got a 15-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. That’s the hard part, to just get back to running around with them and being a dad again."
The two have known each other for more than 20 years, but they were more acquaintances than close friends.
"As a spiritual person, I believe everything happens for a reason,'' Ballard said. "If I can save his life, why would I not?''
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