Joyce Berry is a diabetic, and this disease caused her kidneys to fail.  On her birthday, November 26, 2007, Joyce was placed on the national waiting list for a life-saving kidney transplant.  She also began dialysis, a medical process that does the work of kidneys that are in failure.  Three days a week, Joyce underwent dialysis treatments.

Nearly one year later, on Christmas day, 2008, Joyce received a call from the University of Kentucky Transplant Center.  A donor kidney was available.  The next day, Joyce received the transplant she so badly needed.

"The best gift I could have ever received was that someone indicated their willingness to be an organ donor when they renewed their driver's license," Joyce shares.

Though she has never met her donor's family, she knows that it was a 22 year-old man from Charleston, WV, that saved her life.

"I just want to thank my donor and his family, from the bottom of my heart.  They did a wonderful thing and gave me a second chance at life."

You can help those in need, too.  Join Kentucky's Organ Donor Registry.