A longtime Coppell police officer is in need of a kidney transplant. A fellow officer turned out to be a perfect match.
Everyday, police officers put their lives on the line.
Coppell Police Officer Jim Turner is no different.
"You never know what you're going to encounter in this job," he said.
For 15 years, he's patrolled Coppell streets, ready for the unexpected. But there is no preparing for the call every wife fears.
"A lot of emotion," Turner's wife, Amada, said. "You're just not expecting a phone call like that."
This time, however, the threat was internal.
Kidney failure more than a year ago took Jim Turner from the beat to a hospital bed.
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"I really didn't know how sick I was," he said.
He now undergoes dialysis three times a week where harmful toxins are pumped from his blood.
"I knew that it was a possibility that this could shorten my life unless I found a kidney, unless I found a donor," Jim Turner said.
Family members are the most likely kidney donors, but not in Turner's case.
Fellow Coppell Police Officer Peter Dirks wound up being a perfect match.
"They were surprised, and so was I," Dirks said.
"He's not even my best friend, and he's not even my family and he did this for me," Jim Turner said.
For the Turners, it's a life-saving procedure that will mean many more years with family – a family that's about to get a little bigger, as the bond between the brothers in blue truly runs blood-deep.
"Just to have that brotherhood, that compassion, just to want to help somebody else out. It's just amazing. Truly, truly amazing," Amada Turner said.
The procedure is scheduled for May 13.
