Sign is up in Between, Ga. for local woman in need of a kidney

She was given a kidney by her mother, but after 6 years it failed

Update: The sign is now up on the side of Highway 78 in Between and is lit up at night to avoid anybody driving by not seeing it. The hope is that Shelby Davis will get a lifesaving kidney donation in time for Christmas.

Initial story

BETWEEN, GA (Sept. 19, 2022) – Shelby Davis, 22, is the daughter of Sharon Davis and right now what she needs more than anything is a kidney. Tonya Westmoreland, who donated a kidney to her husband several years ago, knows exactly how desperate a situation that is. So the next person to go on the board on the Westmoreland property on the side of Highway 78 in Between will be Shelby. It will soon be seen there, with the help of All Star Signs in Bethlehem, for motorists passing by to see.

“We are on a mission,” Westmoreland said. “We need to find Shelby a kidney as soon as possible. Let’s find her a donor by Christmas. That’s the goal – to give a miracle of life.”

Sharon Davis shared her daughter’s story.

“Shelby is 22 years old and has Type One Diabetes and stage four renal failure. When she was 13, about a week before seventh-grade school year started, she broke out with a rash from her toes to her hips and we found out that she had caught a virus called HSP that shut her kidneys down. The doctors at children’s Healthcare of Atlanta did three rounds of chemo on Shelby to try to arrest the virus, but it did not work and Shelby had to go on dialysis. She had had 55 treatments, four months of dialysis and we found out that I was a match for her,” Sharon Davis said. “So she got her first kidney August 23, 2013.”

But six years later the kidney failed due to high blood sugars from her Type One Diabetes. Davis said Shelby has now been on dialysis for three years and awaiting another kidney. Her diabetes is under control but she is still waiting on a new kidney.

Shelby’s information will soon be up on the board for motorists passing the sign to see the information, which is given below. As in the case of Westmoreland for her husband and Davis for her daughter, a living donor, who is a match, can donate a kidney.