Man Paints Billboard to Help Wife Fight for Life

An elderly man rents out a billboard to advertise his wife's need for a kidney transplant, 610KVNU reports.

Sharon Nelson, 73 and husband, James, 70 rented a billboard and James even climbed up the board to paint it himself. "It was a particularly cold morning that day. I grabbed a chair and sat there making sure he wouldn't fall from that ladder," said Sharon who needs to undergo frequent dialysis. James borrowed a 12-foot ladder and painted "I Need a Kidney" along with his phone number. Sharon said they got the idea from a nurse at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. The nurse said she knew of a Milwaukee man who had found a donor himself after renting a billboard.

Nelson has been in and out of the hospital ever since she was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer in 2008 and since 2009, she has been undergoing dialysis after cancer treatments damaged her kidneys. In 2010, Sharon considered a transplant and went in search for a prospective donor. She was approved for a transplant in February. However, since Sharon's blood type is O, she can also receive transplant from someone who has the same blood type. She shared that a lot of people have come forward, offering to donate a kidney but so far, none of these offers have materialized.

One of the most common problems donors are faced with is that they may have suffered from infections and other types of diseases in the past including heart ailments, tuberculosis or COPD. "If I get the transplant, there are some things we want to do. We will be able to visit family and friends easier. We won't have to think what time of the day it is to do something," Nelson said.