Days back from Iraq, Army National Guardsman Heeds a Different Call
Dallas, Texas ‐ (November 1, 2010) – It was just a standard bit for radio. In August 2010, Psycho Shanon from the nationally‐syndicated radio program, Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, visited a 7‐Eleven convenience store and offered free, full‐service fill‐ups to people stopping by. No one took her up on her offer except for one person, a woman named Gail Moten, 54, from Plano, TX. Shanon was so excited she took Gail on a shopping‐spree inside the store. When Shanon asked Gail if there was anything else she could possibly need, Gail tells Shanon “I need a kidney.” Ms. Moten will receive that kidney on December 6, 2010 thanks to a fellow Kidd Kraddick listener.
Days back from his deployment in Iraq, Army National Guardsman Sergeant Brandon Vance, 26, was listening to Shanon’s interaction with Gail on the air and was moved to help. Calls and emails flooded in to Kidd Kraddick in the Morning, but only Sgt. Vance followed through with his commitment to donate one of his kidneys. Sgt. Vance wrote to Shanon that the show has, “…touched [his] life in many ways that words cannot explain.” He went on to say that this was his way to thank all the cast members of Kidd Kraddick in the Morning for helping him get through his deployment (his family would send him tapes of the show).
After two rounds of testing, it was confirmed that Sgt. Vance is indeed a match for Ms. Moten. “I think what I’m doing is very small compared to what she’s had to go though for the last 3 ½ years,” stated Sgt. Vance. On a phone interview with Kidd Kraddick today, Kraddick asked Vance if he has met Ms. Moten. Not only have the two met, but they are in contact weekly.
“There have been a ton of people that’ve tried to talk me out of it,” says Sgt. Vance, “but you know when this whole thing happened, I just felt like it was something I had to do. My mind was made up that very day.”
Sgt. Vance recently learned that he may be deployed to Afghanistan in Summer 2011. When asked about the military’s stance on the donation, he stated that they were fine with it. “It’s not going to affect me in my ability to do my job in the military at all.”
Sgt. Vance, a single parent of a son, Brayden, 7, lives in Denton, TX. He joined the Army National Guard 11 days after his 17th birthday. Afghanistan will be his 4th deployment to the Middle East since he started serving. It was his deployments that gave him his special perspective on life. “Going overseas, you get a better value and a better understanding of how precious life is.” The transplant surgery is scheduled for December 6 at Parkland Hospital, Dallas, TX.