Local airman donates kidney to boy in renal failure
Staff Sgt. Eric Larmay is an airplane mechanic at Pope Army Airfield, but last week, he made a different kind of repair that he hopes lasts a lifetime.
Posted — Updated"It's definitely been an amazing experience, one that I'll never forget," Larmay said Monday.
His Air Force buddy's 12-year-old stepson, Hunter Mitchell, was in desperate need of a kidney transplant after recently finding out he was going into renal failure.
Miraculously, Larmay was a perfect match. So on Thursday, doctors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham took one of his kidneys and performed a kidney transplant. Hunter is still in Alabama recovering and doing well.
"It's definitely honorable knowing that I was able to give him a second chance at life," Larmay said. "I'm beyond words at his recovery and my recovery."
Larmay donated his kidney knowing that it could have serious consequences on his military career. But the choice was simple, he said. As a mechanic, he's used to fixing things.
"Things have actually turned out real well for him," Larmay said. "He's actually been up moving around, walking. I actually went and saw him the day that I was released, and he was talking and – from what they say – he was a million times better from the day of surgery."
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