News 12 @ 6 o'clock -- September 8, 2008

AUGUSTA, GA --On her eighteenth birthday, Sharron Millsap thought she would never be able to walk in her own garden. But now almost thirty years later, she's able to do just that because of a kidney transplant.

"I spent two and a half years on hemodialysis and realized that was not something for me. That was not the way I wanted to spend the rest of my life," said Sharron Millsap, a MCG kidney transplant survivor.

Doctors gave Sharron her first transplant from her sister and it helped her live for twenty-four years. The doctor who helped save her is the program's founder and he's so glad he's helped save so many lives.

"I think I did about five hundred transplants. I'm particularly proud of the first seven we did. Three are still doing well. Thirty-nine years, that's very good, " said Dr. Arthur Humphries, founder of the MCG kidney program.

And for Sharron, when she found out she needed a second transplant twenty-four years later, she knew MCG was just where she needed to be.

"If it hadn't been for the staff at MCG and my family, I would've pretty much given up, " said Sharron.

Something Sharron is thankful she didn't do.

"I came to terms with it. I thank that donor family and my sister everyday. There's not a day goes by I don't think about them because without them, I probably wouldn't be here today, " said Sharron.

Doctor Humphries and Sharron both went to the celebration where hundreds other transplant survivors all reunited. In forty years, MCG's posted 1,897 combined transplants that include both kidneys and pancreases.

Below is a complete list of doctors who participated.
Arthur Humphries, MD
Charles Wray, MD
Ray Finney, MD
William Moretz, MD
Perry Volpitto, MD
Zach Gramling, MD
George Van Giesen, MD
Jim Hudson, MD
Jay Dennis, MD
Bill Chew, MD
Rex Teeslink, MD