NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Sometimes we are lucky enough to have a person in our lives who is there with us through the best days and the absolute hardest ones, too. Two sisters have that bond.
"We shared a bedroom," smiled Pat Cole, sitting next to her sister Jeri Crabtree. "Jeri owned the record player. I could not approach it. I could not touch it. I got to sit on the bed and listen!"
Jeri and Pat grew up in a military family. You know what that means. Constant moving. Their family lived all over the world. In just the U.S., their family lived in Arizona, New York, and South Carolina for starters. With all that moving, the two of them became very important to each other. They've never lost that closeness.
"I can't imagine my life without Jeri in it," Pat said.
"And me without you," Jeri responded.
The sisters were recently forced to face hard news for Jeri, stage four renal kidney failure.
"You have to wrap your head around the fact this means there's going to be surgery," said Jeri. "It's not if but when."
"My immediate thought was, 'I cannot not have you here,'" Pat said.
Jeri reached out to her niece, Pat's daughter, Summer Thielebeule. She's a surgical first assistant at Ascension Saint Thomas West.
"The best thing is to get a living donor," Summer said. "The quicker, the better the procedure."
With time so important, where would they find Jeri's kidney donor?
"I told her, 'I have a spare. It's yours, and I'm going to make sure we're going to do this together,'" Pat said.
"She said, 'I've already thought it through,' and that was it," said Jeri.
"Our mom had already passed," Pat continued. "I looked up and said, 'Mom, we need you,' and I believe she made this happen."
"I could feel a lot more at peace knowing they're going to do the procedure with people I trust at a place I love," Summer said, referring to Ascension Saint Thomas West.
The transplant was a success.
The sisters held up little keychains with puzzle pieces.
"One says, 'I'm a kidney donor' and Jeri's says 'I'm a kidney recipient,'" Pat explained. "They interlock. Isn't that cool?"
Today, Jeri lives near Cookeville while Pat's home is in Florida. Two sisters prove years and miles haven't mattered one bit to a true bond.
"Pat's gift has given me probably another 15 years with my girls and my family," said Jeri. "I can't thank her enough."
"Oh. My gift is seeing you," Pat answered. "If you have the possibility of saving a life, why would you say no or even hesitate to offer? I love Jeri, and I want my sister here."
