Wife buys bus ads in attempt to find husband a kidney

A Renton wife and mother is taking it to the streets in an effort to find her husband a kidney. She’s buying bus ads to urge people to get tested and potentially donate.

Emmett Smith told KIRO Radio’s Ron & Don they learned he needed a kidney two years ago.

“I was feeling really sick, just generally feeling really horrible and ended up going to the hospital basically just because I wasn’t feeling well at all,” Smith said. “They admitted me immediately and then started emergency dialysis. Mind you, I didn’t even know what dialysis was at this time. I was coming into this thing pretty blind.”

At 27 years old, Smith was in kidney failure. While many might think drugs or alcohol might be responsible for a condition like this at such a young age, Smith’s wife said he’s lived a healthy lifestyle, but suffers from an autoimmune kidney disease.

Smith currently gets dialysis three times a week in four-hour sessions. He explained the procedure for The Ron & Don Show.

“They pump a portion of your blood out of your body. They basically filter it, add a few things, and then put it back,” he said. “But they do it generally pretty fast so it’s really rough on your body.”

His wife wrote on their blog page that the dialysis treatments can lead to pain, migraines, vomiting, muscle cramps and general weakness for Smith.

“The bad days steal Arianna’s precious time with her dad. Those are the days that hurt the most,” she wrote.

Arianna, Smith’s 9-month-old daughter, is a part of the bus ad campaign. The ads feature an image of the father and daughter with the message, “My daddy needs a kidney – Call for testing – Must be blood type O” with a phone number (206) 598-3627.

Multiple members of Smith’s family were tested for possible kidney donations, but Smith said they were ruled out as possibilities. Once it was clear his family wasn’t able to donate, his wife came up with the idea for the bus ad.

“My wife decided she was going to take it kind of old school and start advertising from the back of buses,” said Smith.

The family originally bought five bus ads, but the company responsible for managing the ads on the Metro buses stepped up and bought them an additional 15.

“That is 20 buses out there that have my face on it, which is kind of weird,” said Smith.

KIRO Radio’s Don O’Neill said it’s a pretty compelling message: “If you see the bus billboard, you’ll just want to rip out both your kidneys, your liver, your heart. You’ll just give everything to Emmett after you see him and the baby on the bus.”

Anyone interested in donating to Smith can visit the family’s website at donate4emmett.org. Smith also encourages anyone looking for more information on kidney donations to visit nwkidney.org.