The birthday gift of a lifetime

Annabelle Whitaker is not your average young adult. While other females her age may lean toward romantic comedies or family dramas—television shows like “Power Rangers” and “Barney” are the ones that most interest Whitaker. Diagnosed with Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS) at the age of six, Whitaker just turned 23 years old on Thursday, and though her appearance and mental capacity reflects that of a much younger person, according to Neil Whitaker, his daughter has championed through adversities—including five blood transfusions, a PD catheter and multiple dialysis treatments—that others may not have been able to withstand.

As a proud “girl dad,” Neil said that Whitaker is the oldest of three daughters born to him and his wife, Heather. Although Whitaker was born with SMS, she wasn’t diagnosed until she began going to school. “We knew that something was going on with her,” her dad stated, “but it wasn’t until we went through the Marcus Institute in Atlanta—a process that was spearheaded by the school system—that we got an official diagnosis. Dr. Amy Pakula was the one who told us what Annabelle had.”

Neil describes his firstborn as “very loving” but said that Whitaker had been struggling all of her life due to one thing or another associated with SMS. The news that hit them two years ago, however, was totally unexpected. “It all started on January 25, 2018 with a dizzy spell,” Neil revealed. “She got dizzy at school that day and fell. We took her to the ER at Perry Hospital where they did blood work and a CT scan to be sure there was no serious head injury. When everything was done, they came back to us and told her she had stage 5 kidney disease. Talk about a blow!” he exclaimed.

It was the start of a rough week for the Whitaker family, as Neil recalled. In the midst of the chaos, however, he said they found a reason to be thankful. “Normally, we would have just taken her to the med-stop to get stitches, but the med-stop wasn’t open.” he shared. “If it had been, we wouldn’t have known about the kidney failure for who knows how long. From the moment we found out about it, she needed immediate medical attention. So, who knows what might have happened if we didn’t find out when we did?”

What may surprise many who are not well versed in how the medical field operates, is getting organ transplants—even when the need is extreme—is not always a quick or simple process.

“My wife and I were ready to go right then and there,” Neil said. “We were like, ‘Here, take my kidney. Do what you need to do.’ But it doesn’t work like that with Emory Hospital. You have steps that you have to go through, and there’s a list that you have to be on before you can even go through those steps.”

According to Neil, Emory has a panel of professionals set in place that has to review the necessary components, and then give approval of a patient being put on the transplant list. “If they look at everything and don’t approve,” he explained, “then that patient has go somewhere else and start the process all over again with another hospital.”

Neil said his family was elated that Annabelle was approved, but as it turned out, neither he nor his wife was the match that their daughter needed. That’s the point in the story where Whitaker’s 23rd birthday miracle truly comes into play, and where what appeared to be a chance meeting with a woman named Natalie Nuce, turns out to be much, much more.

“Eleven years ago, we had to go to Xenia, Ohio to get a service dog for Annabelle through the Four Paws program,” Neil reminiscence. “I walked in with my Georgia pullover on, and when Natalie saw it, she said, ‘Hey, are y’all from Georgia? I went to the University of Georgia.’ It seemed as simple as that,” Neil said, “That’s where our paths originally crossed. Natalie worked for Four Paws, and we just went there to pick up a dog named Killian.”

Although Killian has since passed away, the connection initiated by his placement in their story did not die with him. Neil went on to explain that Nuce eventually relocated back to Georgia and took a job with Habitat for Humanity. With her living closer by, the Whitakers were able to see Nuce on occasion, even watching her dog, Callie, in times when Nuce’s job required her to travel.

Nuce informed Houston Home Journal that she first gained awareness of Whitaker’s kidney disease through reading Facebook posts. “When I worked with Four Paws, I gained a huge appreciation for families with special needs children,” she said. “That was the demographic that we provided dogs for, and I would always have so much empathy for what these families were dealing with, and I’d wish there was something I could do.”

When she heard of the kidney failure that Neil and Heather’s daughter was facing, Nuce’s first response was, “Now this is something I can do!” At the age of 52, Nuce is in excellent health and has no children of her own who might need her kidney in the future, so despite the fact that she’s never had major surgery, and despite the normal nervousness that comes with organ donation, the decision to give her kidney to Whitaker was an easy one.

“I’m a Christian,” Nuce added. “I believe when God lays things on your heart, and those things keep coming up and won’t leave your mind, you need to respond. That’s what happened to me,” she stated. “I kept hearing about it and I kept reading the story, and I felt like God was talking to me. I knew I needed to throw my name in the hat.”

Neil mentioned that Nuce started the process of seeing if she was a match back in September of 2019. During the progression of events, one medical concern arose wherein Nuce was set to go back for another test. “She was due to go back on March 24, but then COVID shut everything down,” Neil said. “Emory stopped all testing because of COVID-19, and everything was put on hold. On May 19, Natalie was finally able to go back for a sonogram, and whatever they thought they saw before was no longer there. This past Friday, May 22, Natalie called us up and said, ‘Hey, I’m good to go; I’m the match!’”

Neil said there were no words that could adequately describe the way he and his wife felt upon hearing Nuce’s announcement. “Oh my God,” he expressed. “That was an enormous weight off our chests. It’s our daughter. It’s our child.” Neil said that from the moment she submitted her name as a willing donor, Nuce believed that she would be the one selected as the match for Whitaker. “And by golly,” he said with a laugh, “she was.”

“I just don’t think God would have prompted me like He did if it wasn’t meant to be me,” Nuce voiced. “To have a blood type that was so perfectly compatible and not be a relative is really rare. This was meant to be.”

It’s been a long road for Annabelle Whitaker and her family, and although SMS will continue to be a challenge; with a healthy kidney, they are now quite optimistic about her quality of life in the future.

“The community as a whole has been amazing. We can’t say thank you enough,” her dad said. “They really rallied around us, helping with fundraisers and just showing so much support. This kidney from Natalie,” he emphasized, “it’s just the best birthday news Annabelle could have ever gotten.”

While a date for the surgery hasn’t been set, Nuce said that she’s hopeful that it will take place in July. Sacrificing an organ to help someone met in a chance encounter may seem heroic to some—and rightfully so—but Nuce said her decision was just an act of obedience to the Word of God.

“The Bible says to love your neighbor as you love yourself,” she pointed out. “All I’m really doing is loving my neighbor.”

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