Actor gives gift of life to colleague

When Paul Gibbs, a 34-year-old actor and film student, found out he needed a kidney transplant, the first thing that went through his head was, "Can I still go to my callback (audition) tonight?"

While Gibbs, who has done theater since he was 14, didn't get to the audition, he did find through his two-year ordeal that there really are no people like show people — not when one of their own needs a lifesaving transplant.

Local actor Ryan Poole gave the gift of life to his former castmate, while the local theater community rallied in support.

"It speaks to the kind of person he (Gibbs) is," said Poole.

Gibbs, along with three siblings, was born with bilateral ureteral reflux and had kidney problems all his life.

"I had nine surgeries on my kidneys before I was 5," said Gibbs "For most people, it is corrected with one surgery."

In November 2007, Gibbs noticed he "had a strong tendency to get sick easily. Every four to six weeks I'd get flu-like symptoms. I'd be listless.

"I'd always lived with bad kidneys, but that had been a reality for so long that I didn't take it seriously."

Tests revealed he needed a transplant.

Doctors initially hoped Gibbs' twin brother could be the donor. "But I knew he wasn't a likely option," Gibbs said. "He'd had 17 surgeries on his intestines. His kidney was a perfect match, but it wasn't a healthy choice."

Then word of Gibbs' condition started to trickle through the theater community.

"Theater people have come out of the woodwork to help with fundraising or support," Gibbs said. "They've just made me feel like I haven't been going through this alone at any step of the way."

They organized fundraisers, and the theaters Gibbs has worked for — Off-Broadway and the Children's Theatre — also helped.

But fundraising wasn't enough — his theater friends wanted to do more.

"Suddenly they started contacting me and asking, 'Can I be tested?' I was pretty overwhelmed by the fact that they were asking to be my kidney donor," Gibbs said.

The response among the local theater community also overwhelmed the transplant clinic. Clinic staffers called Gibbs and requested he not have any more friends contact them until they were ready for more.