For Nicole Gaborek, the whole purpose of being a cop is to help people. The officer for the Village of Lakemoor, northwest of Chicago, is always ready to aid accident or crime victims. When she read about a woman in nearby Harvard, Illinois, in need of a kidney donation, Gaborek simply reacted like she would for anyone who required the kindness of strangers.

“It was so obvious to me, ‘Oh, she needs her life saved. I can fix that,’” Gaborek told the Chicago Tribune .

Humble helper

For Nicole Gaborek, the whole purpose of being a cop is to help people. The officer for the Village of Lakemoor, northwest of Chicago, is always ready to aid accident or crime victims. When she read about a woman in nearby Harvard, Illinois, in need of a kidney donation, Gaborek simply reacted like she would for anyone who required the kindness of strangers.

“It was so obvious to me, ‘Oh, she needs her life saved. I can fix that,’” Gaborek told the Chicago Tribune.

Without delay, Gaborek contacted the radio station that posted the article about Rachel Schultz’s donor search on its Facebook page, and they put her in contact with Schultz. The 31-year-old was diagnosed with IgA nephropathy or Berger’s Disease in 2016, and by 2018, was in kidney failure, reliant on daily dialysis. Publicizing her medical condition with the station was a last resort for Schultz. She’d been seeking donors through a website, networking with the local American League and VFW groups, and posting flyers around town. She even wore an “I need a kidney” T-shirt to a Chicago Cubs game, hoping to capture people’s attention.

“What I learned from pretty much everyone is you have to be your own advocate,” Schultz explained to the newspaper. “You have to put yourself out there, even if that’s not comfortable. And it wasn’t comfortable for me, but I thought, ‘Well, I need a kidney.’”

Tests confirmed Gaborek was a match, and the transplant took place in early December.

“I don’t have some great story,” Gaborek said humbly. “It was just as easy as, ‘I know I can help her, so I’m going to help her.’”

A welcome role reversal

Being on the receiving end of help generally is not a comfortable position for Troy Biggs. As a veteran of the Green Township Police Department in Ohio, he’s usually the one to jump in and assist others.

“I like helping people when they call. It may be as simple as changing a tire,” he told Cincinnati’s WLWT television station.

But when his kidney function fell to frightening levels due to a genetic condition, Biggs accepted the roles had to be reversed for now. Biggs knew this time he required someone to step in for him.

“My kidney level is at a 15. For a normal person, it’s probably up in the 90s. If my kidneys get down to 7 to 10, somewhere in there, that’s when I’ll have to start dialysis,” he explained last fall.

Biggs created the Kidney for Troy Facebook page to spread the word about his condition and elicit potential donors. Word didn’t have to travel too far. It turns out, the neighbor across the street from Biggs’ home was a match. Before Christmas 2020, the two neighbors were recovering well from the transplant procedure.