Woman celebrates life saving transplant from brother

Mt Airy News | Tom Joyce

Photo: Virginia Snow of Mount Airy said she wouldn’t be alive today if an older brother hadn’t donated a kidney to her 40 years ago. Tom Joyce / The News

Some might call it the ultimate case of a gift that keeps on giving, but Virginia Snow says the kidney donated by her brother 40 years ago has been nothing short of a miracle in her life.

Snow basically was looking death in the eye in 1972, with both kidneys close to shutting down and knowing the only thing that would save her would be a transplant. And even if a donor could be found, her life would be prolonged by only about 13 years.

But 40 years later Snow is still here, which she credits to a strong faith in God and especially to an older brother, Claude Cassell — who gave one of his kidneys to her.

“I am a miracle — the Lord has blessed me tremendously,” the great-grandmother said during an interview at her home on City View Drive in Mount Airy.

The fact that her brother would subject himself to what was a risky procedure in the early 1970s by giving up one of his kidneys was an act of love that Snow, now 66, will never stop appreciating.
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