Jill Hickey sure does have a lot of patience. The 57-year-old from Hueytown, Alabama, is a married mother of two who works for Delta Air Lines at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport. Jill works in customer service, most often in the baggage claim area. She’s the person you see when your luggage doesn’t show up on the baggage carousel — you know, that little office where you go to vent? Like I said, Jill has a lot of patience.

Bruce Gamble sure does have a lot of patience. The 74-year-old from Birmingham has needed it over the last few years, as his kidneys have been on the fritz. Bruce was referred to a UAB nephrologist in 2022 — he qualified to receive a kidney from a living donor, but the first 11 applicants were not matches. Bruce’s three brothers were too old to qualify, and Bruce and his wife Wendy don’t have children. Like I said, patience.

Jill Hickey is a teacher by trade. Jill was a business major at Samford University, but teaching was her calling. Jill has been teaching gifted students in Jefferson County, Alabama, for years. And when she landed her gig at Delta Air Lines? Jill simply added that job at the airport to her teaching job. Jill rises at 5 each morning and heads to class — she works all day, then works at Delta four days a week from 5 p.m. to 10 pm.

Bruce Gamble flies a lot, and I mean he flies A LOT. Bruce is in the automotive consulting business, and like Jill, Bruce has a great motor. “I tried to retire in 2016,” Bruce told me. “That lasted 30 days.”

Today, Bruce is self-employed and travels up to 50 weeks a year. He’s been in 49 U.S. states, Canada and Mexico. Bruce Gamble is a loyal Delta Airlines customer — a Delta 360 member, a club that invites only the most loyal of customers to join.

Over the past few years, Jill Hickey got to know Bruce Gamble. Oh, it was a casual friendship, as on Friday nights upon his return to Birmingham, Bruce would stop by the baggage office to grab a bottled water and say hello. Jill knew that Bruce was a valued customer, so she would go the extra mile to help him. She never imagined that someday, she would give Bruce the gift of life.

It had just turned 2024 when Jill walked in on a conversation between her fellow Delta employee, Beth Adderhold, and Bruce Gamble. Jill heard something about being tested.

“What are we being tested for?” Jill asked cheerfully.

“We’re talking about getting tested to be a kidney donor,” said Beth.

Jill Hickey — who knew Bruce only casually — was about to make the biggest decision of her life.

“I talked it over with my husband Jim and my daughters,” said Jill. “At first they weren’t too keen on the idea, but they came around, and we decided to move forward.”

“I couldn’t believe it,” Bruce told me. “Jill barely knew me, yet here was this woman behind the Delta counter volunteering to get tested.”

Why? That’s what I wondered. Why would a 57-year-old Delta employee volunteer to give a kidney to a casual acquaintance?

“A few things went through my mind,” said Jill. “One of my first students — Sarah Eady — died in a car crash at the age of 16. Sarah’s parents decided to have their daughter’s organs donated. That has stuck with me. One of my other students — Shelby Brown — saw her brother donate his bone marrow. I have always believed that if you can help save someone’s life, you should, and I wanted to make a difference.”

The testing process at UAB Hospital was extensive. Test after test, vial after vial of blood. “I gave 19 vials of blood. During one visit I actually passed out,” she chuckled. “It was all worth it when I was found to be a match.”

“When I received the call to tell me Jill was a match, I was shocked,” Bruce told me. “I fell on the floor. I was overcome with emotion upon hearing the good news.”

It was last December, and they were days from the operation. Bruce’s friends Tony and Amber LaRussa sent Jill a gift basket with a devotional inside. “Reading that book calmed me,” said Jill, who often turned to the book for inspiration.

“Let me lead you step by step through this day,” the book read. “If your primary focus is on me, you can walk along perilous paths without being afraid.”

The big day, Dec. 9, 2024 — arrived. It was the day Jill donated her kidney to a Delta customer, and it was the day Bruce learned that he would come out of surgery with three kidneys. It’s a cutting-edge procedure where the donor kidney is placed near one of the existing kidneys — a procedure that is not only feasible but viable.

“I’m a member of the 3 Kidney Club,” Bruce chuckled.

Just over 3 months after their surgeries, Jill Hickey and Bruce Gamble are amazed at how a gift of life has bonded them. “We used to be casual friends,” said Bruce, “but we are now family for life.” In fact, soon Bruce and Wendy Gamble will be traveling with Jim and Jill Hickey to Southern California for a getaway.

And the health of Bruce and Jill? “I feel great — I’m just working on my stamina,” Jill told me. Said Bruce, “I’m working on my stamina, too. I drink 100 ounces of water a day. I find myself in the bathroom a lot, but I feel great.”

If there is any doubt that Bruce and Jill were put together for a reason, Jill brings us proof in an amazing story. “When I went in to have my kidney removed, doctors found blood vessels wrapped around it,” said Jill. “I may have saved Bruce’s life, but because he came into my life and doctors discovered my issues, Bruce may have saved my life, too.”

And so ends the story of a hardworking man whose life was saved by a Delta Air Lines employee at Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport.

A story with a lesson sent:

The next time you angrily walk into a baggage claim office demanding the airlines find your luggage, go easy on the person behind the counter.

For that person might just save your life.

Rick Karle, who writes a weekly ‘Good News’ story, is a 25-time Emmy winner and a 43-year veteran of broadcast news who has lived and worked in Alabama for 35 years. You can find his work on Facebook at Rick Karle Good News. Send your story suggestions to: [email protected]

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