The Kidney That Crossed Between Brothers

In 1954, Richard Herrick was dying. His kidneys had failed, and no treatment could save him. His identical twin brother Ronald made a decision that changed medical history — he offered one of his own healthy kidneys so his brother might live.

Dr. Joseph Murray, the surgeon at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, performed the first successful human kidney transplant. Ronald went under the knife not because he was sick, but because someone he loved was. He accepted the scar, the pain of recovery, the risk of living with a single kidney for the rest of his life. And it worked. Richard received his brother's kidney and lived eight more years. He married his nurse. He built a life that would not have existed without his brother's willingness to be cut open on his behalf.

What strikes me is this: Ronald's kidney could not help Richard while it remained inside Ronald. It had to be removed, surrendered, given away. It had to leave one body and take up residence in another. The gift required a wound in the giver.

This is the anatomy of every true sacrifice. Something alive and functioning must leave us so that life can flourish in someone else. Our Lord understood this better than anyone. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

The next time you consider what sacrifice costs, remember — the wound in the giver is what makes the life of the receiver possible.