(12-23-25) Mercer County Sheriff Doug Timmerman started a domino effect of generosity with one life-saving decision.

Joy Wagner, who lives in Newark–

“It is the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten.”

Wagner received Sheriff Timmerman’s kidney donation 10 days ago at the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. But the process to get to that point started a while ago.

Ohio sheriff starts chain of five living kidney donations in honor of his father

WSYX ABC 6

Timmerman said-

“About a year ago in December, I started looking into whether I could possibly be a donor for my father. My father’s medical condition kind of changed where he could no longer receive that kidney. So while I was down here in the middle of that process, they asked if I would continue on to try to find somebody nice to donate to.”

Wagner has kidney disease and had been on the transplant list since July

She said….

“I just want to make sure I’m around. want to be here for my kid. I want to be here for my grandkid.”

The gift to Wagner keeps on giving. Timmerman said when he decided to donate, he asked the Ohio State representative if they could work on a chain to help more people.

Starting with Timmerman, five people donated their kidneys, and five others received them, during two days of surgeries.

Dr. Amer Rajab, a physician at Ohio State, said it’s rare to have such a large chain of donations.

“We are lucky at Ohio State. I don’t know if Ohio people are special or what. We really get eight to ten a year of these donors who just want to donate a kidney to help anybody.”‘

One of the donors in the chain was Wagner’s hospital. They had surgery the same day, but he was not a match for her.

“The girl that my husband donated to, she’d been on it for two years,” said Wagner. “It would be a miracle that she would get a kidney, and she happened to match with my husband.”

While Dr. Rajab considers Timmerman a hero for starting the chain, for him, serving others and giving back is part of life. He’s the sheriff of Mercer County.

Timmerman said-

“I prayed on it a few times, and the answer’s always been the same,. I didn’t really think twice about it when that opportunity was there, even though I couldn’t do it for dad. It’s like, okay, somebody needs this.”

The somebody, who turned out to be Wagner, is now connected to him forever.

Wagner said-

“That was the best part, in my opinion, for someone to make this sacrifice for me, even though it wasn’t specifically for me; he made that sacrifice for me,”