Brothers-in-Laws-in-Arms

ARNEWS: Soldier gives Marine a kidney.

By Times-News reporter Sandy Miller

BUHL, Idaho -- You never call a Marine a Soldier and you never call a Soldier a Marine.

And never confuse a Marine's "oohrah" with a Soldier’s "hooah."

In fact, one of the few things a Marine and a Soldier will agree on is how much fun it is to make jokes about the Air Force.

But when it comes down to the wire, they come through for each other. So when Marine Lance Cpl. Mitchell Pehrson needed a kidney, Army Spc. Adam Douglas gave him one of his.

Well, OK, Douglas does happen to be married to Pehrson's sister, Andrea.

"It wasn't about being in the military," Douglas said. "He was my brother-in-law and he needed a kidney."

Pehrson, now 22, was stationed on a Marine base in Japan last spring when he injured himself trying to earn his gray belt in martial arts. The injury sent him to the doctor who became concerned over the young Pehrson's high blood pressure.

Pehrson admitted he hadn't been feeling too good.

"I was always tired and had trouble on PT runs," Pehrson said.

Tests revealed Pehrson had anemia and his body was starved for oxygen.

"It was killing my kidneys slowly," he said.

He was flown from Japan to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where more tests confirmed Pehrson had end-stage renal disease. He needed a kidney - fast. He stayed in the barracks while the Marines worked on getting him on a list for a donor.

That's when Douglas, who was stationed in Korea with the Army's 304th Signal Battalion, stepped in.

Read the rest of the story.

Especially the last paragraph. heh.

Posted by Kyer at January 9, 2006 01:07 PM | TrackBack