ATLANTA — Willie Blackwell has a house full of memories from his playing days at Atlanta’s Morris Brown College and the NFL. But one day last week, something much bigger happened. “I asked my wife. I said I just want to know,” Blackwell said. “Am I dreaming?”

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Channel 2 first introduced you to Blackwell last summer. At that time, he was in desperate need of a kidney transplant. He had already lost one kidney to cancer more than 20 years ago. The other was failing fast. He’d been on the waiting list for years. And then came the phone call.

“I was probably yelling. Ha, ha! Probably yelling,” said his wife Kathy. “Because he was doing too many things at one time.”

Kathy was in the passenger seat. She could only watch and offer to help as Willie had two hours to pack a bag and travel from McDonough to Buckhead because Piedmont Hospital had an organ waiting for him. Willie made it, and the surgery was a success. He’s now back home and doing fine.

“I have to remind him though. He doesn’t have a team of nurses anymore. Just me,” Kathy said.

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Willie says he owes it all to his faith, and faithful friends—many he has never met—who prayed for him. Some are also waiting for a donor. Once he heals, Blackwell plans to do all he can to encourage them as they wait for “their” phone call.

“I kind of pinched myself. She says, no babe. You are not dreaming,” Blackwell said. “This is real. I said, God did it, didn’t he? Yes he did.”

Willie said his mission once he fully recovers is he to work with the hospital on a program to promote organ donation. Not many people will be better qualified.

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