James Small drives a billboard, actually it’s a truck with a serious plea. It helped find a kidney donor for his wife eight years ago and now he prays it will do the same thing for his brother in-law, David Nieforth

David, 56, a father of two and grandfather of four, has Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) for which there is no known cure. He developed cysts that, when they burst, feel like being stabbed in the back. It can be deadly.  The disease is hereditary.

David’s mother, Joanne, came to his aid about six years ago. She and David were a match. A petite woman, Joanne’s kidney was small. David is a big man, but it could work. Unfortunately, complications developed during the transplant and David spent six weeks in the hospital. Now his mother’s kidney is functioning on borrowed time and David knows he’s got about six years to find a donor. Jim is on a quest to make that happen.

“He knows more about this than I do,” David says of Jim on a break from his job as chef at the Village at Waterman Lake. “My brother in-law is my hero,” he adds.

Jim doesn’t think of himself as a hero. The heroes are those who donate a kidney to save the life of another. Jim would not qualify as a donor. He has diabetes. Yet, he has a hero.

She’s Kelly Folger of Newport. Kelly responded to the campaign to find a kidney for his wife, April that started with the truck and snowballed as the story was featured on television, in newspapers and social media. He is hopeful the same combination of media attention and, of course the truck, will result in a match for David.

Indeed, Jim knows a lot about kidney’s and what it takes to find a match. The starting point is blood type. David has Type O blood, but that doesn’t mean anyone with Type O can be a donor. Potential donors go through a series of tests to ensure the transplant won’t result in transmitting a disease to the recipient or in some other way inadequate.

Lloyd, David’s brother, also inherited Polycystic Kidney Disease. It turned out his wife, Lisa, was a match and she donated her kidney.

Kent Hospital is a common connection for the Smalls and the Nieforths.  Jim’s mother, Catherine, worked there as did April’s mother Joanne. Jim and April met at Kent. He was 16 and she was 18. They both worked in housekeeping. April still works at the hospital as a medical records inspector. She’s been there for more than 40 years.  Jim went into retail, retiring from HomeGoods where he worked for 22 years before taking retirement.  Looking to do something different he turned to banking and is now an assistant teller for Navigant Credit Union. It brought him full circle to the Navigant branch at Kent Hospital.

“I’m still waiting,” Jim said when asked Tuesday night if he’d gotten any calls.  He’s set up pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and he’s put in calls to Channel 10 and to Gene Valicenti at WPRO Radio.

“That’s where it all went viral,” Jim says of Valicenti’s morning show.

Now he’s looking for the same magic that brought Kelly into their lives. Maybe it will come as he’s stopped at Hoxsie Four Corners during seemingly interminable waits to turn left. That call could come from the motorist behind, beside or even in front of him. The number 401-258-6621 is everywhere.

Jim got his first call yesterday morning.