21-Year-Old Receives Kidney From Adoptive Brother

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - An hour before surgery at UPMC Montefiore, Ty Greenwood is showing his larger than life personality.

"I've just been living life. It's a good day, I'm excited," he said.

The 21-year-old Junior at Washington and Jefferson College and a summer apprentice at KDKA was born with kidneys smaller than they should be. Last May he was told his kidneys were functioning at only ten percent and he needed a transplant. His 31-year-old brother Lance was a perfect match.

"I'm just so thankful, really just thankful for the opportunity and this blessing and this miracle and who better for it to come from than Lance, my brother," Greenwood said.

This is how that miracle comes into play. Ty was adopted and he and Lance are not blood brothers.

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"It's going to avoid him having to have dialysis and be on dialysis which would have been detrimental not only to your length of life but also to your quality of life and for him to function as a regular person. And do all the things he would like to do," said Dr. Amit Tevar.

Tevar says both brothers are expected to have great recoveries and be back in the swing of things in a matter of days. This is something their mother is grateful for.

"I'm real comfortable today, peaceful. I know that they are going to be ok," mom Rhonda Greenwood-Williams said.

The parents and aunt of the brothers waited for the near six-hour surgery to be completed.

"I'm concerned a little bit about both of them, but I believe they will come through it. My heart has been pounding a mile a minute all morning," says father Curtis Williams.

Their aunt, Reverend Maxine E. Jenkins, says she has no worries.

"I just feel that a miracle has already happened and another is about to happen as they go through this surgery," she said.

The transplant surgeon for the brothers said that the procedure went well and both are recovering.