Service, perseverance and positivity are three words that describe 64-year-old John Babbitt.
The youngest of six children, John was born and raised on Chicago’s South Side. He enjoyed a loving upbringing and was always encouraged to try something new.
“I was always very energetic and had a lot of support,” John said. “I loved doing different things.”
Growing up, John played basketball, and was involved in the school band, the local church choir, and various community functions. He even had the honor of being prom king at Willibrord Catholic High School.
In 1983, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he rose to the rank of staff sergeant while serving as a generator mechanic. John’s 13-year tour of duty took him all around the world, from Germany to Hawaii and Alaska.
John completed his time in the Army in 1996 and returned to Chicago to work for the Illinois Department of Transportation.
“We worked with state troopers and monitored the expressways for accidents,” said John. “If we identified an accident, we would be first on the scene.”
John spent the following years raising his family in Schererville, Indiana with his wife, Murrell, and was active in his community.
Then John’s world changed drastically.
In 2005, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was successfully treated with brachytherapy. Before long, John was back at work helping keep the highways safe.
But cancer wasn’t done with him yet.
In 2008, John was recovering from a work-related injury when he noticed something strange – blood in his urine.
At first, he thought it might be his prostate again. It turned out instead to be renal cancer.
“I went in to get my prostate examined, and everything was fine,” John remembers. “But then I had a CT scan, and that’s when they found masses on both of my kidneys.”
John was shocked.
“I was still a young man when I heard the ‘C’ word,” said John. “I remember asking myself how it was I got cancer when nobody else in my family had it.”
Just as he did with the prostate cancer diagnosis, John decided he was going to fight back. But his road to recovery would be a long one. Although doctors did everything they could to try and at least partially save one of his kidneys during the cancer treatment, a back injury forced John to take medication that disabled all remaining renal function.
“Once I lost all function in both kidneys, I had to have both of them completely removed,” John recalls.
In 2013, he began dialysis treatment while meeting with several doctors and specialists to explore the possibility of becoming a transplant candidate. He met with rejection after rejection.
“My heart sank when they told me I wouldn’t be a good candidate due to having cancer,” John said. “I felt discouraged, but I didn’t want to give up.”
He maintained a positive attitude and did what he could to make others smile throughout his dialysis treatment.
“I saw those nurses three days a week for four hours a day. They became my extended family,” John said. “When they told me I always came in smiling, I told them I had to keep myself encouraged.”
After three years on dialysis, John received a phone call that would change his life.
“About two weeks after meeting with another doctor who told me I wouldn’t be a good transplant candidate, I got a phone call from my coordinator letting me know I would be tested again for cancer,” John says. “A week and a half after that, I found out I was completely cancer-free and could have my transplant.”
On February 11, 2016, a living donor gave John his life back.
“There was a young lady who wanted to be a donor for her father, but she was a bad match for him,” John remembers. “But she was a perfect match for me. She saved my life.”
After his transplant, John crossed paths with Gift of Hope through the National Kidney Foundation and decided to share his story as a way to inspire and encourage others.
“I had known about Gift of Hope through the hospital where my wife worked. I used to see their minivan in the parking lot,” John said. “I started working with them directly in 2017 and I really enjoy being an ambassador because I get to give back to the community and tell my story to give people hope and encouragement while educating them about organ and tissue donation.”
John is currently enjoying retirement in Dyer, Indiana, where he loves spending time with his grandchildren and working in his yard. He also keeps in touch with his donor, Brigitt, and continues advocating with Gift of Hope to encourage others to register to be an organ and tissue donor.
“Donation truly changed my life,” says John. “Living three and a half years without any kidneys was very difficult, but my donor gave me a second chance at life, and I have taken every opportunity to maximize it. It’s truly amazing to see everyone working together toward a common cause.”
John continues giving back by participating in community events at Newlife Covenant Southeast Church. He most recently took part in Pastoral Care, a support service that addresses physical, emotional, and spiritual needs for individuals and has attracted more than 3,000 volunteers.
