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Rogers deputy donates organ to complete stranger

Posted at 10:29 PM, Jun 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-29 23:30:05-04

It's an officers motto to protect and serve, but one Rogers County Deputy went above and beyond the call of duty.

An ordinary day for Rogers County Corporal Paul Tucker includes writing reports and answering calls from dispatch.

But on June 18, 2015 he made a decision that was beyond ordinary, one that will save a man's life.

"If you would have told me that five years ago that I'd be sitting here interviewing with you guys and fixing to donate a body organ, I'd tell you you were crazy," says Tucker.

51-year-old Greg Morton has been on dialysis for two years. Both of his kidneys have failed. He lives in Nashville. Corporal Tucker never met Morton before he agreed to give him his kidney.

"It's like one of those unexplainable things that you really can't describe," he said.

Tucker and Morton were a perfect match.

"I got the phone call from Vanderbilt and they told me that I wasn't only a match, but that I was around a one and a million match," Corporal Tucker said.

But this Deputy wasn't the first person to step up to the plate.

"Another doctor reviewed the case and he felt that my artery was not an absolute match," Rogers County Sheriff Major Coy Jenkins said.

Major Jenkins is a longtime friend of Morton and says he wasn't able to give his kidney. But by fate, his partner was. Now Morton has another chance.

"I'm anxious, I'm nervous and quite frankly I'm scared about it," Morton said.

He is an audio technician for one of country musics biggest duos.

"I've done a show in every state of the Untied States," he said.

He loves the sound of living a life free of dialysis in Music City, free of fear thanks to one deputy in Oklahoma who gave his kidney for free.

"I got a brother for life," Corporal Tucker said.

"I'll owe him for the rest of my life," Morton said.

The surgery will take place July 26th in Nashville.