Desperate man offers up his truck and his own kidney to anyone who can help save his dying wife
When Verlon Robinson found out that his wife of 25 years needed a liver transplant, he decided he would do anything to help her get one. In a plea on Facebook, Robinson offered his 2004 Dodge pickup truck to anyone who could donate part of their liver to his wife, Marie.
Marie was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver three years ago, Robinson told CBS News. "It was irreversible at that time," he said of his wife's diagnosis. "She's only been plummeting down hill the past few years."
Every few months, the couple from Sanger, California, drives 5 hours to the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center for tests and checkups. Doctors say Marie's only hope is a liver transplant.
"I've been desperate to get her OK," Robinson said. "I'd do anything to get her back to where she was." That's why earlier this month, he decided to write a plea to potential donors on Facebook. In the post, Robinson wrote that he would give up his truck to anyone who would be willing to donate part of their liver to Marie.
Unfortunately, UCSF told Robinson he can't offer his truck in exchange for a liver. "There'd be a lot of people buying livers" if that sort of thing was allowed, they told him. Instead of his truck, Robinson could offer potential donors something else in exchange: another organ.
"They said I could offer a kidney," he told CBS News. "I'm going to go down and get myself on the donor's list. I promised I'd do it, so I'll do it." Robinson said he has not joined the donor list yet, but the next time the couple travels to UCSF he plans to add is name.
Nationwide, nearly 14,000 people are waiting for liver transplants.
In a new post on Facebook, Robinson included that he will give his kidney in exchange for a healthy liver and left his phone number for anyone that is interested.
Since posting the plea, Robinson says he has gotten hundreds of replies. "Ninety-five percent of the people don't want anything, they just want to help my wife," he said. "I've had four or five people say they won't mind having the truck, but 95 percent of the people don't want anything."
In his Facebook post, Robinson also asked readers for their prayers. "When I sat down to write that, I asked God to guide my hands and he did." With hundreds of replies and more than 3,000 shares of his post, Robinson says he feels sure "that liver is really close."
"People are so wonderful. Last week, I couldn't put my phone down, it just lit up like a Christmas tree." He says he still has 300 text messages on his phone that he hasn't been able to get to yet.
"This is like a love story. Once I posted it, it spread like wildfire," Robinson said, adding of the future donor, "they'd be my Superman."
