Rogers County deputy volunteers to donate a kidney to a stranger

Paul Tucker has been a deputy with the Rogers County Sheriff's Office for three years.

He understands that sometimes, a peace officer puts his life on the line for others, but in Paul's case, he's going above and beyond the call of duty, by literally giving a piece of himself to save a man he'd never met until recently.

It began with a Facebook post by a friend of his, asking for help for a man who needed a kidney, but has a rare blood type.

Paul tells KRMG he wanted to help, so he messaged his friend, then filled out an application with Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville to become a donor.

It didn't take long for them to call him back.

"She said 'okay, we're going to send some lab work over, and you can do it right there in Claremore,'" Tucker told KRMG.

When the results came back, they were better than anyone involved could have hoped.

"She said 'you guys are a six-for-six match,' he said. "I didn't find this out until later on, but the match that we are is one in a million."

Little did he know, that was just the beginning.

"They did all kinds of things, EKG, chest x-ray. I had to meet with a social worker, and a psychologist," Tucker said.

All this for a man he didn't even know.

"When we landed in Nashville, he picked us up at the airport. That was the first time we ever met."

A non-profit called Living Donors Assistance Program is helping Tucker with the travel expenses.

As far as his job, Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton has been nothing but supportive.

"His words to me was 'we're one hundred percent behind you,'" Tucker said, adding that several of his fellow employees have offered to donate time off to him if he needs it so he won't lose any pay.

The recovery from the operation will take weeks, with weeks more of light duty after that before he can return to patrol.

As for the why, Paul said it's pretty simple.

The man who needs the kidney has a wife and two children.

"Me being a father myself, I would hope and pray that if I was in that situation, someone would do the same for me."