Jessica Bliss|USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Chip Davis’ role has always been that of the protector.
With nearly two decades on the police force, the last 12 of those years as a sergeant, he never imagined asking someone to come to his aid. At least not in this way.
But this week, the 40-year-old veteran of the La Vergne Police Departmentstood in a Vanderbilt University Medical Center hospital room and grasped the hand of a fellow officer.
Together they prayed that they would both come safely out of surgery.
Then Davis looked at his colleague—a friend making an unexpected sacrifice—and said three things: Thank you. I love you. See you on the other side.
That last part, about the other side, thatwas the whole reason Eric Crowder was there, awaiting the operation that would remove one of his kidneys. He didn’t want to see Davis die.
A wife's plea
For months, Davis’ head exploded.
No over-the-counter medicine could diminish the pounding. No doctor could either. His blood pressure was too high. His kidneys were failing.
Only a transplant could keep him off dialysis. Could keep him alive.
Davis is a burly man. The kind you would imagine to be a police sergeant, with thick legs and a barrel chest.But,his wife, Kelly,says,heisn’t a man of many words.
What she saw of his burden came in the heavy expression onhis face. He had a major diagnosis. This time, the protector needed someone to help him. So Kelly Davis put his prognosis on social media and she pleaded—anyone willing to donate an organ, please visit the Vanderbilt website and submit yourself for testing as a possible match.
A host of people stepped forward, the Davisesdon’t know how many. Crowder was one.
The 32-year-old police officer first got to know Davis in 2008. Crowder served as a Tennessee State University campus police officer then. A mutual friend connected the men, and in 2012 Crowder joined Davis on the force in La Vergne.
As news circulated in the department of Davis’ illness, Crowder stepped forward. “No hesitation,” Crowder said.
'We like to take care of our own'
Crowder knew how an organ donation could change a life. His aunt had donated a kidney to his uncle. “Once he got it, he had a complete 180,” Crowder said.
But there was something more. Davis and Crowderhave daughtersabout the same age. Theybonded over “daddy issues” — being the only men in the house, going to dance recitals.
Crowder didn’t want to see those little girls grow up without their father.
And, truth be told, in the force fellow officers are like family. Many times, working security andmanning the streets, the policemen spend more time with one anotherthan at home.
“We like to take care of our own,” Crowder said.
And that is how he came to be sitting on the edge of ahospital bed on Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours removed from the surgery that took one of his kidneys and allowed Davis to call it his own.
Crowder cringed some as he raised himself up from his pillow, still clearly tender. The men have eight weeks of recovery ahead of them. But Crowder's biggest fear seems to be behind them. From the outset, he worried that Davis' body would reject the kidney, and that everything they had been through would be for nothing.
At 1 a.m., awake from surgery and finally mobile, Crowder made his way down the seventh-floor hallway to Davis' room — ignoring the early morning hour. He didn't complain of his own pain. The first thing he asked was: How is Chip?
A true sacrifice
It's hard to imagine being in that position. It's impossible to know how far we would go, what we would truly sacrificefor a friend. Would we risk our own life, give a piece of ourselves, to save another's life?
Crowder may have felt anxious before the surgery, but he never wavered. Hecared only about helping a man he called family when he worked away from his own.
That, Davis says, feels humbling.
He didn't know how the future would play out for him. He was scared.
But someone took a chance on him. Made a sacrifice. And sitting in his green hospital gown, yellow socks covering his feet, Davis had two takeaways to share.
The first, he said: "Listen to your body. Make sure you are taking care of yourself."
And the second: If you want to make a difference, to leave your mark, consider organ donation.
You could save a life. You could give a family a future.
You could become somebody else's protector.
Reach Jessica Bliss at 615-259-8253 and on Twitter @jlbliss.
