By Allen Howard
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ronald Durrett gets a kiss from daughter Autumn, 9, as they sit with Durrett's co-worker Betty Jo Wade. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

When Ronald Durrett was diagnosed with kidney failure a year ago, he and his doctors began the desperate search for a donor organ.

He didn't have to look far. A co-worker, Betty Jo Wade, stepped up with an incredible offer: Take one of mine.

Durrett, 39, and Wade both work at the Embassy Suites in Blue Ash. They've known each other about eight years.

Wade, 43, doesn't see the organ donation - a procedure that carries a certain risk - as a big deal.

"We are all one big family here," she said. "When he learned of the kidney failure on Valentine's Day last year, I told him I had one he could have."

After failing to find a match from his relatives, the single father accepted Wade's offer.

Wade, of Sharonville, underwent tests that confirmed she's a compatible donor. Doctors hope to perform the transplant in March at Ohio State University Hospital.

Organ transplants between nonrelated people are becoming more common. Last year, of the 140 kidney transplants performed in Cincinnati, 84 were from living donors and 16 were nonrelated donors, according to LifeCenter, the organ procurement agency for the Tristate.

The procedure does not shorten life expectancy for the donor, nor does it increase the risk of a kidney failure, according to the Living Organ Donor Web site.

Still, some doctors are uncomfortable with the risks of the procedure to the potential donor.

Durrett lives in Pleasant Run with his 9-year-old daughter, Autumn Bree.

Wade has two grown children.

"Both are very supportive of me," Wade said. Durrett "is a wonderful person. He is trying to raise a child on his own, continue to work and fight this ailment."

Durrett undergoes five-hour dialysis treatments three days a week.

"We were co-workers, but now we are friends," Durrett said. "I will spend the rest of my life paying her back for this."

Tim Bonfield contributed to this report.

E-mail ahoward@enquirer.com.