Younger sister to donate kidney to older sister

The question never needed to be asked.
At the point in her life when Twyla Freeman ever needed a kidney transplant, her sister Amber Wells was going to be there with one to give.
“No one in my family ever asked me to do this,” Wells said. “As long as I can remember, I said when she needs a kidney, I wanted to be the one to donate it.”
Wells will fulfill that long-ago promise on July 1, when both sisters travel to Houston for the surgery. It will take place at Houston Methodist Hospital.
Wells, 21, and Freeman, 22, both of whom are now married, are originally from Orange, Texas. Wells moved to Abbeville in 2011, to be closer to her mother, Rebecca Saltzman. She met and eventually married Robert Wells III, the grandson of former Harvest Time Pastor Robert Wells.
Freeman, who still lives in Texas, has long battled kidney issues.
“She was born with a two-pound tumor,” Wells explained. “They had it removed, and it caused kidney failure. When she was four, one of her kidneys shut down completely. Over the years, her other one has slowly been shutting down.”
While Wells had the enthusiasm to donate, she had to prove to be a match.
“We had to test to see if I would be a match,” Wells said. “We kind of assumed, because we have the same parents, that we would be a match, but we had to make sure.
“When the test came back, I was a 100-percent match.”
The news served as a relief.
“I was excited,” Wells said, “very excited. We were all emotional.
“We’ve been best friends for as long as I can remember.”
Freeman shares those feelings.
“I am very thankful that she is doing this,” Freeman said. “Obviously she doesn’t have to. I am glad that it worked out that she was a perfect match.
“It could have worked out way different.”
With everything falling in line, there are still nerves. Freeman said she is nervous, not for herself, but for Wells.
“I am more nervous for her,” Freeman said. “I am used to going through these kinds of things.”
While it will in no way keep her from going through with the procedure, Wells admitted that there are some jittery feelings.
“Now that the date is getting a little closer, I am getting a little nervous,” Wells said. “I have never been fond of hospitals.
“Twyla has gone through this, so I am getting strength from her.”
Wells has plenty of other support, not only from her family including father David Weldon and her mother, but a great deal from her in-laws, too.
“They have been great,” Wells said of her husband’s family. “Pastor Wells will actually be there for the surgery.
“There has been a lot of praying.”
There has also been financial support from many in the community. A recent raffle fundraiser in Abbeville netted money that will be used for medicine and other expenses, including an apartment the sisters will use in Houston during the month of recovery following the surgery.
“We are very thankful to those who donated,” Wells said. “It was quite a bit and people are still donating.”
Generosity certainly abounds for the family. That is fitting in that giving is the tie that will forever bind the sisters.
“This will bring us that much closer,” Freeman said. “Definitely, it will.”
No one ever asked Wells to make it happen.
“I didn’t want her to do it because she is young,” Freeman said. “I didn’t want anything to happen to her down the road.”
While no one asked her to give a kidney, no one would have been able to convince Wells not to do it.
“I get to give her the gift of life,” Wells said. “I get to know that she will have a normal life like I do.”