FREDERICK, Colo.—The Rev. Jeremy Jacoby is prepared to make the donation of a lifetime to his church.
A 33-year-old member of the Family of Christ Lutheran Church, Jon Adams, needs a kidney. Jacoby is giving him one of his.
The surgery is scheduled for April 29.
“I found out three weeks ago that he is my donor,” Adams said. “I was shocked. I wasn’t jumping around for joy. You expect help from your parents or family. When somebody you haven’t known a year comes through . . . it wasn’t easy to comprehend it.”
Adams’ brother and parents were eliminated for medical reasons. After months of confidential tests, Jacoby recently learned he is a suitable donor.
Jacoby, a 36-year-old husband and father of two girls, ages 4 and 3, started his mission church about a year ago. He holds services inside Frederick High School.
Jacoby had a goal, he said, that his young church would be known for taking good care of its people.
Adams and his wife, Lisa, and their two daughters, 4 and 2, first learned of the new church through a postcard advertisement and began attending April 1, 2007.
“They were at our first worship service,” Jacoby said. “Jon was my first hospital call.”
It was just a week or two after joining Family of Christ that Adams’ kidneys, weak since his infancy, quit working.
Jacoby’s congregation, about 70 people, learned in August that Adams needed a kidney donor. They added his name to their prayer chain.
“I remember thinking, distinctly, that if I didn’t help Jon, if I didn’t do this, then nothing I said about unconditional love for our church family had any meaning.”
“I don’t feel obligated to do this because I’m his pastor,” Jacoby said. “It’s because I’m Christian. It’s really easy for me to put myself in Jon’s shoes.”
The two men have much in common—young daughters, video gaming and love of sports.
Soon after Jacoby was found to be suitable, he and Adams agreed to take the first surgery date available at the University of Colorado Hospital.
If all goes well, Adams will have Jacoby’s kidney for the next 20 years. Then he’ll need another one.
Jacoby said the only sacrifice he is making is losing his doctor’s permission to sky dive, race motorcycles or rock climb without safety ropes. “I wasn’t doing that anyway,” Jacoby said.
The congregation has promised unlimited numbers of casseroles and baby-sitting services for both families.
The kidney does come with one string attached.
“It is the one condition for the kidney,” Jacoby said, “that Jon, from Wisconsin, a Green Bay Packers fan, must admit (Denver Broncos John) Elway is the greatest.”