SILVER CLIFF, Colo. (KOAA) — Most Thursdays around 9:00 a.m. Willie Quinney pauses during the breakfast rush at his restaurant in Silver Cliff, Colorado, to greet one diner who gets mandatory one-on-one time.
“I mean, I can never say thank you enough because she gave me my life back. It’s something you think about every day,” said Willie.
Willie’s kidneys failed a couple of years back; he was on dialysis, and Lorree Lund, a woman Willie did not know, donated one of her kidneys to him.
“We weren't regular enough for him to actually know us,” said Willie.
Willie’s Silver Cliff Mountain Inn and Restaurant is a mile up the road from Westcliffe, Colorado, where Loree lives.
The eatery, many know as Willie’s Place, is known for making everyone feel welcome.
“This is basically a gathering place,” said Willie.
It is also common for Willie and his wife, Cheryl, to be part of fundraisers and local events in the small, rural Wet Mountain Valley community.
Cheryl said, “Never thought we'd be doing fundraisers for him. It was always for someone else.”
When Willie’s kidneys failed, a Team Willie Facebook page was created that led to a community rallying to help.
Along with rallying fundraisers, it encouraged testing to find someone who could be a live donor.
Loree heard about the site from a friend.
From the Facebook page, she then linked to the UCHealth website that explains and assists with living organ donation.
“I clicked the link out of curiosity,” said Loree.
Browsing evolved into serious thoughts of getting tested to see if she was a match.
“Sounded pretty simple, and I thought, OK, I could do that.”
Loree’s husband, Chris, was a supportive observer.
He said, “At some point in there, she came out really sheepishly, like I’m donating a kidney.”
Willie did not know about his neighbor down the road until a match was confirmed.
“I really found out who she was, you know, when I got the phone call.”
Doctors and the UCHealth transplant team guided the process.
“Those guys walk on water as far as we're concerned,” said Willie.
Testing to be a donor match requires extensive physicals.
If you match, surgery and a hospital stay are required.
“It's maybe 2 weeks out of your life and then it takes more time than that to recover,” said Loree.
There is an ongoing complication for Loree.
She does not like hearing the term hero.
Willie is fine with it.
“He said, “There's nothing that I wouldn't do for these guys, you know, and you have to appreciate the fact that someone is willing to give a, a part of themselves to help someone else.”
Loree wants others to know that donating a kidney is “not that hard.”
“It's not like everybody has to give a piece of themselves, literally, to things, but I feel like I don't know kindness is like the thing I have to give.”
According to the American Kidney Fund, around 90,000 people in the United States are on the waitlist for a kidney transplant.
Finding a match can take more than five years.
Thanks to Loree's testing to be a living donor, Willie got a kidney and a new lease on life in just 17 months.
Click here for more information from UCHealth on living organ donation.
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