An emotional Darry Hood embraces Traci Dayhoff upon meeting her for the first time. Hood, who had a serious health issue and was in need of a kidney transplant, received a kidney from Dayhoff. The two met for the first time since their surgeries. Thursday, June 2, 2022.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
By Elissa Maudlin
GREENFIELD — Darry Hood stood in front of the door with his wife, Sue Hood, with tears already forming in his eyes at just the glimpse of Traci Dayhoff and her children walking toward the door. When Dayhoff finally entered, he shook his head and cried, embracing the anonymous donor who gave him a kidney and the woman Sue refers to as a “perfect stranger.” This was the first time they had ever met.
“You have no idea how much this has done for me,” Darry said as they hugged, adding he will “never be able to repay” her for what she’s done.
Dayhoff’s response: he doesn’t have to.
On Sept. 8, 2021, Daily Reporter journalist Jessica Karins published a story about Darry’s search for an organ donor, depicting the retired Eastern Hancock teacher, magician and musician and his kidney troubles. After reading this article, Dayhoff, a current McCordsville resident, clicked the link to learn more about being a donor for Darry.
“When I read it, I instantly was like, ‘I think I’m supposed to see if I match him.’” Dayhoff said. “…I had one of the girls at work ask me, she’s like, ‘What are you doing? You know, you’re 39.’ And I said, ‘You know, I just feel like God gives us all a purpose in life and what if one of the goals of my life was to extend [Darry’s]?’”
Dayhoff, who referred to herself as a “rule follower” and is a nurse at Riley Hospital who has seen children go on dialysis, was in good enough health to be a match.
On Feb. 9, Darry received the call that a donor had been found for his kidney transplant and he said he cried for three minutes while hugging Sue, who said she felt “shock.”
“‘Oh, ye of little faith,’” Darry said, referring to a biblical verse. “We just thought, ‘I’m on the list.’”
The night before the procedure, Sue said her and Darry did think: what if Dayhoff, who they only knew as the anonymous donor at the time, changed her mind? However, Darry wasn’t worried about the surgery, he said, as doctors had told him it would be easier than previous surgeries he had gone through.
During their procedure on April 15, the two strangers, Darry and Dayhoff, came to Ascension St. Vincent at different times, maintaining anonymity. They were across the hall from one another, Dayhoff said, as the kidney was taken from one and delivered to the other. She said doctors referred to it as “a dance.”
“I’m glad they put me out,” Darry said, “because I don’t know what I’d have done if [the doctor was] carrying it across the hall and he said, ‘Oops, I dropped it! Oh gosh!’”
Darry said doctors told him, as soon as they put Dayhoff’s kidney in his body, it started working immediately.
Weeks after the procedure was finished, Dayhoff decided to not be anonymous — a decision she said was part of the plan from the beginning. She emailed the Daily Reporter on April 30 to give thanks for Karins’ original article that Dayhoff said helped her become Darry’s donor.
She wanted to stay anonymous to make sure she passed all the tests in the kidney donor process.
“I didn’t want to get [Darry’s] hopes up and then yank the rug out from under him,” Dayhoff said.
At their first meeting on June 2, Darry gave Dayhoff flowers, two CDs of his music, a small angel figurine — which he didn’t know she collected — and a sign that read, “So unbelievably blessed and incredibly grateful.”
When thinking of what Sue would say to Dayhoff had they not met, she said it is “hard to put into words because there are no words, really … What a gift. What a sacrifice.”
Darry thought he’d be at a loss for words when meeting Dayhoff — something he said never happens to him. He named the kidney Traci Alex, named after Dayhoff and his kidney surgeon, and said he prays for Dayhoff every night. It “[made] him feel even better” to know Dayhoff recovered well from the surgery.
“I can’t fathom somebody that’s healthy and has a healthy kidney donating it to a perfect stranger,” Darry said. “That’s got to be the ultimate gift.”
Dr. Islam Ghoneim, Dayhoff’s surgeon for the transplant, referred to kidney donors as “remarakable people” who have a drive and determination to help people.
“It’s something that keeps me in my profession very engaged and very rewarded … always being surrounded by these high-quality individuals,” Dr. Ghoneim said.
He also said people in need of a kidney transplant have the longest wait list and there is an extreme shortage of kidneys available, despite the long-term effects on kidney donors being minimal.
“The biggest message that needs to get out there is to encourage people to donate,” Dr. Ghoneim said.
Dayhoff said she “can’t even tell [she’s] donated a kidney.”
“Just signing up to be a donor after you die is a wonderful, generous thing to do. But there are certain things that you can do while you’re living for people,” Dayhoff said. “…God can give his life for me, I can surely give a kidney to someone else,” referring to a quote she said in a Riley Hospital article.
As for the future, Darry said it’s “in God’s hands.”
“If I’m supposed to die next week, I’ll die next week,” he said. “But my chances are going to be much better now that I won’t have to worry about my kidney.”
The meeting ended with a picture, a visit to Darry’s music room and an exit out the same door the ‘perfect stranger’ came in hours earlier. Before the picture, Darry embraced Traci.
“You made my life,” he said. “Thank you.”
Click this link from Ascension St. Vincent to learn if you are able to be a kidney donor.
