By ERIN TIERNEY

etierney@lockhaven.com

LOCK HAVEN – “It was just the right thing to do.”

That’s the simple answer Brian Shook gives when asked why he insisted on giving one of his kidneys to a good friend, Lorne Greene.

Greene said he knew his friends were tried-and-true, but he never guessed one of them was so reliable that he would insist on going under the knife to save his life.

Shook just smiles.

“It was just the right thing to do,” he says.

Greene of Lock Haven and Shook of Bellefone met at the Clinton County Speedway about 10 years ago. They’ve been good friends ever since.

Brian and Jill, Lorne’s wife, raced together, and Brian claims,”Lorne wasn’t good enough to keep up with me.” Brian’s grandparents often sat behind Lorne in the grandstands, which is how their friendship got started.

Jill and Nychol, Brian’s wife, have been friends for years.

And when Brian caught wind Lorne was in the hospital for kidney failure last June, he was actually offended he wasn’t contacted about being a donor.

He said he called the couple and told them he was out of the loop and wanted to be the donor.

Brian scrambled to figure out his blood type, and by midnight that night, he contacted Jill, and told her his blood type matched Lorne’s.

Things were looking up already.

Prior to that, the outlook was pretty bleak.

Lorne found out about his kidney failure when he went to Jersey Shore Hospital for an unrelated surgery. During the prep, his blood work revealed that he needed immediate medical attention.

Transported to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville by ambulance, doctors told him he was in stage four kidney failure.

“Lorne’s kidneys were so bad, doctors at Jersey Shore couldn’t even touch him for the surgery,” Jill said. “He even need an epidural.”

At Geisinger, doctors were able to perform the original surgery. When he went home two days later, it was off to specialists to figure out the next step for Lorne’s kidney failure. Specialists in Williamsport tried to preserve what he had left of his kidneys, but time and options were running low.

By February, he needed a kidney transplant or he was going to have to begin dialysis.

Jill started a Facebook page in search of a kidney donor. Remarkably 10 friends said they were willing to be a donor for Lorne.

But Brian was louder and more assertive – he pushed himself right to the top of the list.

Before Lorne knew how hell-bent on being a donor Brian was, Lorne was feeling lousy and depleted.

Jill said Lorne stayed in bed for 20 hours a day.

“I was just worn out,” Lorne said.

Brian would come to visit and ask, “What’s the matter with my big buddy?” He was making light of the situation, all the while running around having blood drawn and going through other tests to determine if he was a match for Lorne’s transplant.

When the tests were completed just a few days before Christmas, it was time to tell Lorne and Jill the news.

“Brian said he wanted to tell Lorne himself,” Nychol said.

So they made a plan.

Nychol and Brian went to the Weis Market in Bellefonte, got a green box and a green card (green is the color for Kidney Awareness) and drove down to the Greene’s in Lock Haven. But Lorne and Jill weren’t home. They were at the Weis in Jersey Shore.

Eventually that evening, the group met up with one another.

Brian handed him the box.

Lorne opened the card.

It read, “Merry Christmas, I’m your match.”

“I was dumbfounded,” Lorne said.

Then it was time to pick a date for the transplant.

They chose Valentine’s Day, which is also known as National Donor Day.

Brian never had any kind of surgery before, not even anything minor, but he said he wasn’t freaked out.

“It’s not complicated,” Brian said. “It was just the right thing to do.”

“That’s the thing about Brian,” Jill said. “From the start, he’s never thought twice about this. When asked why, he just looks at you and says, ‘because it’s the right thing to do.’ There’s so many people who don’t have friends or family even offering when they need transplants- then here’s Brian who decided to do this without a second thought. If there were more people like Brian in the world, it’d be a better place.”

The surgeries went well. Brian’s back at work driving truck and Lorne’s expected to be back driving truck any day now.

Lorne goes to the doctor for check ups once a week and his numbers keep getting better.

Lorne said he hasn’t felt this good in years.

The two men say their relationship hasn’t changed much since the transplant, but Lorne and his family are forever grateful for the gift Brian’s given them – Lorne’s second chance at life.

There’s one thing Jill and Lorne have noticed since the transplant. Could it be a trait passed down from Brian?

“I don’t know what it is,” Lorne told Brian, “but ever since I got your damn kidney, I’m always craving donuts.”

The Greenes thank Kevin and Debra Shook for giving us the blessing of meeting their son,Brian. Additionally, the Greene and Shook families want to thank friends and family for their support, as well as all their medical specialists.

“Jersey Shore, Williamsport and Geisinger -we couldn’t have been treated any better … they were the best,” Lorne said.

The families also thank Dr. Michael Schultz, Nephrology; Dr. M. Camila Mermudez, Nephrology; Dr. Anil Kotru, Dr. Marie Le, Dr. Chintalapati Varma, Transplant and Liver Surgery; Nancy Nuss, Kidney Nurse Coordinator; Denis Hall, Living Donor Kidney Coordniator; the transplant team and all other nurses and staff at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville; Dr. Sam Stea at West Branch Nephrology; Amanda at Williamsport Hospital lab, and Dr. Baitel at Jersey Shore Hospital.

Friend becomes

‘lifesaver’ for local man