When Dorcas Stephens became a new mother in the mid-1980s, she thought the exhaustion and discomfort she felt were just part of life with a newborn.
Instead, it was something far more serious.
“I had my daughter in ’86, and afterward I just didn’t feel right,” Stephens recalled. “I went in thinking it was something routine — and found out I only had about 15 percent of one kidney left.”
She was just 27 years old.
The diagnosis stunned her family. Within a year, Stephens was on dialysis, her health declining as she waited for a transplant. Then her mother stepped forward.
Though initially not an obvious candidate, Stephens’ mother committed to losing nearly 50 pounds — walking daily and doing everything she could to qualify. Her determination paid off. In 1990, she became a perfect match.
The transplant took place at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, where Stephens would make history as the program’s first living-related kidney transplant recipient.
“It was amazing,” she said. “They told us the kidney was perfect.”
That kidney lasted nearly 35 years — far exceeding the typical 15 to 20 years most transplanted kidneys function.
“It was a very good one,” Stephens said with a laugh.
But over time, as is common with transplant patients, her health began to decline again. She returned to dialysis, navigating the physical toll and uncertainty that comes with it — especially later in life.
“You have a good day, then a bad day, then a good day,” she said. “You can’t build strength. It keeps you alive, but you’re always fighting to feel better.”
Now in her 60s, Stephens wasn’t sure another transplant would come.
“I thought, at my age, I probably won’t get a kidney again,” she said.
Then, earlier this year, everything changed.
On Feb. 11, Stephens received a second kidney transplant — once again at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital. This time, the donor was someone she will never meet: a person who had chosen to give the gift of life after death.
“I was shocked. I was so excited,” she said. “You just never know. It’s true when they say keep hope.”
Today, just weeks after surgery, the difference is already clear.
“I don’t have bad days anymore,” she said. “My strength is coming back. I’m walking more. I’m eating better. It’s life-changing.”
She’s already looking ahead to the simple things she missed most: gardening, sewing quilts, riding her bicycle.
“I’ve got my to-do list,” she said.
“Dorcas is a champion, putting in diligent work to take care of her precious kidney for 30 years,” said Dr. Amanda Bailey, the surgeon who performed Stephens recent transplant. “She is an inspiration to everyone and demonstrates the longevity of life that is possible with living kidney donation.”
Stephens’ journey — from a young mother facing organ failure, to a historic transplant patient, to a second chance decades later — highlights both the progress in transplant medicine and the ongoing need for organ donors.
More than 100,000 people in the United States are currently waiting for an organ transplant, the vast majority in need of kidneys. On average, 17 people die each day waiting. Yet a single donor can save up to eight lives.
HCA Healthcare’s transplant hospitals performed 1,324 total organ transplants in 2025. Of those transplants, 991 were kidney transplants.
Stephens said it’s hard to find the right words to thank the person behind her second chance.
“Thank you doesn’t seem like enough,” she said. “You feel for their family, but at the same time… they changed my life.”
At Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, where Stephens’ transplant journey began and came full circle, her story is also a testament to long-term care and evolving expertise.
“It’s a blessing,” she said. “It’s a miracle. That’s exactly what it is.”