Knightdale family, school leader bond over lifesaving kidney donation

On the back porch of the Major family’s home in Knightdale, a bond that barely existed 16 months earlier had already changed one family’s future. Vivianease Major and her husband, Dre, watched as her Sherwood Githens Middle School colleague Greg Goble prepared to give Dre a kidney, a decision that turned a workplace relationship into something far deeper.

Goble, one of two assistant principals at the Durham middle school, first learned about Dre’s worsening health during Monday morning leadership meetings. Over five years, Dre’s condition had moved from swelling to congestive heart failure and stage 4 kidney failure. He had already been denied spots on two transplant lists because his case was so complex, leaving the family with few obvious answers and little time to spare.

Goble’s offer came quietly and quickly. “It was in my heart to make the offer,” he told Major. After that, the path to surgery stretched on for 15 months, filled with evaluations, insurance approvals and preparation through UNC Health before doctors confirmed that Goble was a match. The surgery was scheduled for April 7, and by then the two men had met in person only twice.

The transplant process reflected how difficult kidney matching can be even when a willing donor appears. UNC Health says kidney-transplant candidates go through a series of tests, including a physical exam with blood work, a renal ultrasound, an electrocardiogram, a chest X-ray and a mental health assessment before being placed on the national waiting list. Living donors are supported by a donor advocate throughout the process, and UNC Health says its Chapel Hill hospital was the first in North Carolina to use laparoscopic procedures for living kidney donation surgery.

The need is large far beyond one Wake County family. Federal organ-donation statistics show more than 103,000 people are waiting for a transplant nationwide, about 13 die each day while waiting and one donor can save up to eight lives while enhancing more than 75 others. The National Kidney Foundation says kidney waits can take two to five years or more, a timeline that makes a living donor’s offer especially significant.

For the Major family, the change was personal and immediate. Vivianease Major said Goble became more than a colleague, calling him a miracle. In Knightdale, where the family has lived through years of uncertainty, and at Sherwood Githens Middle School in Durham, where educators spend their days caring for students, the story became a reminder that school communities can become support networks when medical crises hit close to home.