smith was talking on the phone to a college friend angela watkins who lives in augusta ga and mentioned that mr smith was praying for a donor mrs watkinss husband david watkins a judge in state court had been friends with mr smith in college and the two wives also college friends had kept in touch over the yearsmrs watkins told her husband about the conversation and they asked themselves if they should offer to donatewe talked and researched and prayed judge watkins said finally he said they came to a conclusion we have a moral obligation to at least see if we would qualify and he thought that he should be the one to go first if he did not qualify his wife could be testedmr smith warned his old friend that donating was an enormous undertaking he said you cant grasp what you are doing i heard him but it didnt register judge watkins said i told him i have something you need so whats the big deal of course it was a big deal although judge watkins had prepared by getting himself in top physical shape it still took about six months to recover from the operationthat was four years ago and mr smiths new kidney is still functioning and he is back to his active life forever grateful to his friendevery night he says during my nightly prayers with my wife i thank god for bringing david and allison to me and for giving me the gift of lifebut for david giving me this gift i would still be in that dialysis chair