Selfless act: Local woman donates kidney

By STACI GUY
Community Editor
On Aug. 21, Ray Plunkett received one of the most precious and priceless gifts imaginable, courtesy of someone who, until only a couple of months prior, had been a complete stranger to him.
Plunkett, a 38-year-old married father from Cartwright, Okla., had suffered for more than 20 years with a condition that attacked his kidneys. On Dec. 21, 2011, he was placed on the national organ donor transplant list and in May, his prayers were answered in the form of Artesia resident Brandi Shetterly. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.
“In May, Ray’s aunt sent out a text message to a bunch of people asking for prayers for her nephew who was on dialysis and needed a kidney transplant,” Shetterly said.
Shetterly’s mother, it turns out, is friends with Plunkett’s aunt, who lives in Mississippi but once lived in Artesia.
“I read the text and then replied back, ‘How do you find out if you’re a match?’” Shetterly said.
It was as simple as that. One text message sent from Mississippi requesting prayers for a nephew in Oklahoma reached the perfect person in New Mexico, and lives were forever changed.