Kidney donated to man after he visited Chinese restaurant

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Having diabetes has been a long road for Steven Stockton. It has most recently led him to lose both of his legs and deal with double kidney failure.

“For the last four years, I’ve been on dialysis,” says Steven. His caring wife Alicia even changed careers to work on dialysis to help him.

For the past few years, Steven and Alicia have been driving around with a message on their car, asking someone to come forward and donate a kidney.

“I just used the window marker and I wrote, 'My husband needs a kidney to live, please help,' wrote my phone number,” describes Alicia.

Back in June, Alicia and Steven went out to wait and that day, someone read that message and decided to take action.

"So I walked in, I just walked up to the drive-thru and said, 'Your husband needs a kidney?,' and she goes, 'Yes!,' describes Melinda Cavazos, who works at the restaurant. "I said, 'I’ll do it,' when she’s like, 'What?,' and then he pops up his head and says, 'What?'”

Steven and Melinda met once again on Tuesday, but this time at UTMB Health in Galveston. As it turns out, Melinda was a perfect match. The two of them had their surgeries and now Steve has Melinda's left kidney.

"To me, it’s just an everyday thing," says Cavazos. "I don’t feel and I’ve told his wife and I’ve told Steven many times, I just feel like I did a favor a small favor for somebody and that’s the end of that.”

"Being a donor, from a person that has received the gift, and I consider this a gift of life, it’s something that you can do for somebody and you don’t have to know them," says Steven. "All you have to do is be willing to give a little of yourself and a little time and for that, you give somebody so much more than you could ever imagine."

Now, Steven says he is looking forward to getting back to life and eventually hopefully taking his family on a cruise before his eldest graduates from high school.

"We are just very thankful for Melinda and glad that because of her we get to have him longer," says Alicia.

The Stocktons say they need donations for medicines, and the rejection medications don't cover it all. If you'd like to help this family, click here to learn more: 

https://www.gofundme.com/stevens-journey-to-a-kidney