Farmer Lets Hunter Use His Land, Gets a Kidney

There's the donor waiting list, and then there's this: A Mississippi hunter who knocked on a Kansas farmer's door seeking permission to hunt ended up giving the stranger a kidney. As the AP recounts, Rob Robinson first knocked on Gil Alexander's door in 2008 to hunt pheasants. He showed up again three years later to hunt turkey. Again, Alexander consented to the hunt, but this time they got to talking, and Alexander shared that he was ailing and in need of a kidney transplant. When Robinson got home, he got tested.

"He texted me and said, 'I'm a match'," recalls Alexander. "I put down the phone and started to cry." Since the successful donation—doubly successful because doctors discovered that Alexander had early-stage pancreatic cancer and snuffed it out—the men have gone on to found Forever Outdoors, a nonprofit that brings vets, kids, and others to Kansas for nature and hunting expeditions. Today, they met with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to talk about the initiative, reports WIBW, which has video. (More uplifting news stories.)