Kidney For Willie Blackwell

Could you help save a life?

“You could be someone else’s hope. All it takes is a conversation, a kind word, checking in on someone to see how they are doing. You don’t know how far that can go for one person.” So said Tia Winbush in news coverage of the amazing story of the lifesaving step she and her Children’s Healthcare co-worker Susan Ellis took this year by each donating a kidney to the other’s husband.

When Mike Steinberg heard the Atlanta area news story of Susan and Tia pulling off a “miracle,” he found renewed hope to save the life of his friend Willie Blackwell.

Blackwell, a former NFL player and minister who dedicated his life to helping others, is in desperate need of a kidney. His condition is deteriorating; he is running out of options, as no family members or others who have offered a kidney are a match. Finding willing donors is a nationwide problem but a very personal one for Willie and his family and friends.

For the past year, Mike has been pulling all stops to help his friend of 25 years find a kidney. It’s a daunting task: As of February 2021, more than 107,000 men, women and children were on the national transplant waiting list, and more than 90,000 of those needed a kidney donor. Nearly 5,000 of them live in Georgia.

“Even in the midst of this personal crisis, Willie still spends more of his time thinking about and trying to help others,” Mike said. “You may not know Willie, but the moment you meet him, he will embrace you like a family member. He never meets a stranger.”

A deeply caring person, Willie turned his passions into action. When he noticed a literacy problem among the employees where he worked, Willie wrote a book, “America, Yes, I Can Read." The book was a guide to how large and small businesses can help their staffs with literacy skills at the workplace or learn how to speak English. In the 1990s, he led an initiative at Gategourmet, the largest airline catering company in the United States, to establish a nationwide literacy program.

Willie has two daughters, one son, and four grandchildren. He and his wife live in the Atlanta area, where Willie graduated from Morris Brown College. He later served as a volunteer chaplain at his alma mater and at Clark Atlanta University.

If you or anyone you know is interested in donating a kidney, please apply at: www.livingdonormc.org or call 904-956-3249 to inform the Mayo Clinic Hospital that you want be a kidney donor for Willie Blackwell. Additionally, Willie is working with Piedmont Hospital in the Atlanta area to locate people willing to be tested as possible donors. Visit www.piedmontlivingdonor.org to register.

You could well be a match to bring forth a “miracle” for Willie Blackwell. For an update on his condition, Willie will take your call at 404-918-0942. Please also share his story on social media and with all your contacts.