Deceased Marine’s Family Donates His Kidney to Fellow Marine

Marine Lt. Patrick Wayland, 24, was a flight student at Pensacola Naval Air Station. Wayland’s heart stopped beating during a water survival training, and four days later doctors told Wayland’s family the marine was brain dead.Wayland was already a donor, and his family decided to donate his organs to fellow Marines in need.

One of Wayland’s doctors searched the internet for “Marine needing transplant” and found a website created by 23 year old Sgt. Jacob Chadwick’s wife. Chadwick, stationed in Camp Pendleton, California,  had been undergoing dialysis for hours a day due to a serious kidney disease. Chadwick was on a five year waiting list for a transplant when he learned he would be receiving a kidney.

On August 7, after numerous tests confirmed the two Marines were a match, Chadwick received Wayland’s kidney. Chadwick and his wife are expecting their second child this November.

See Melissa Nelson, In Death, Young Fla. Marine Gives Life to Comrade, AP Newswire, Aug. 17, 2011.