How did this idea even come about?
In early 2014, Mike Atkinson told his world that he was suffering from kidney failure from an auto-immune disease that attacked his kidneys. He was going through treatment with different steroids, transfusion, anything, you name it. To hear this news of how much he was suffering was not something that you would hear very often from this guy so you knew this was big.
Mike and his team talked about his future need for a transplant in May 2014. And since that day, I have been pretty set on going through the process to see if I would be a match.
Who is Mike Atkinson?
Mike is a great family-friend to me. We met in 2003 in San Diego, when we both had loved ones that were serving overseas and we were part of an online community support group. Ever since, I have been part of the Atkinson family and considered one of Mike and Stacy’s “adopted” children. Mike and Stacy have hearts of gold – from the people they bring into their family to the thousands of military recruits they continue to support on holidays, to their church family to their own 8 kids (+ spouses and grandbabies).
emoryskidney 