Neighbor donates life-saving kidney to veteran police officer

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    GREEN TOWNSHIP, OH (WLWT) — Troy Biggs, 45, has a new kidney.

The veteran Green Township police officer underwent a successful surgery this week, replacing a failing kidney.

That kidney was provided by Cary Aronson, who gave the life-saving gift to his across-the-street neighbor.

Both surgeries were successful, loved ones say, and both are recovering.

Biggs’ journey was made public in June as he shared his story with WLWT. He has severed the community as a police officer for half his life – most of that time in the west side community of Green Township.

“I like helping people when they call. It may be as simple as changing a tire,” he said.

He appears healthy, but internally, his kidneys were failing, reaching critical levels that – if not treated — was sure to require dialysis.

Accustomed to helping others, Biggs said he was far less comfortable asking for help himself, but said he was running out of options.

Biggs lost his mother in April. She was fighting polycystic kidney disease. Biggs was diagnosed with the genetic life-threatening disease in April. One of his sisters also has the disease.

Despite improving his diet and increasing exercise, his kidney function levels continued to decline.

“My kidney level is at a 15. Normally it’s…” He pauses fighting back emotion before finishing his thought. “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.”

That’s when Biggs turned to the community for help, creating a Facebook page called Kidney for Troy in hopes of finding a potential donor.

That donor ended up being an individual closer to Biggs that he thought – living just across the street.

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