Iraq Veteran Gets Much-Needed Kidney Transplant

Marine Sgt. Jake Chadwick fought in Iraq, then fought another battle when he returned.

Sgt. Jacob Chadwick is recovering in a California hospital after getting the kidney transplant his family and friends had hoped he would receive.

After serving in Iraq, the Wallingford Marine returned to the U.S. only to endure four hours of dialysis, three times a week while he waited for a donor.

His fight came at a bittersweet time for his family. When his wife, Victoria, gave birth to their daughter, Ella Marie, Jacob learned he had kidney failure and needed a transplant.

He soon learned that he would get help in finding one when Operation Gratitude, an organization which sends care packages to troops overseas, set in motion its own initiative to try and find a donor.

Victoria had volunteered for the organization when Jacob was in Iraq and they sent e-mails to thousands of contacts, telling Jacob's story and asking people to consider becoming a donor.

On Sunday, Jacob received the transplant he has waited for at University of California San Diego Medical Center. His mother, Barbara, told NBC Connecticut. The family learned on Tuesday that the donor is also a Marine.

"Jacob is doing really well," his mother wrote in an e-mail to NBC Connecticut from California, where she is by her son's side as he recovers. "He is feeling overwhelmingly grateful, as I am."

She said many wonderful people have reached out and gone above and beyond for her son.

"I so dearly hope that Jacob's donor's family can find comfort somehow, equal to the joy they have given me, and the life they have given back to my son," she said.

Contact Us