Corral.net forum member Bill Richards is being given another chance at life thanks to a fellow message forum member who shares his passion for Mustangs and life
New Brunswick, NJ – If you are a regular internet surfer these days you have no doubt visited a forum of some kind somewhere along the way. No matter what you are into there is a forum somewhere on the net that is devoted to it. Automobiles have one of the largest following around, particularly Fords wildly popular Mustang. There are thousands of forums devoted to Americas Favorite Pony Car where owners and enthusiasts share knowledge, buy and sell parts, and generally just hang out. One of the largest is the Corral.net, whose regular members, and one in particular, went above and beyond for a member in need.
Known as PONYBILL to his friends on the Corral, Bill Richards, 40, has suffered from kidney disease his entire life. At the age of 15 he underwent his first surgery where doctors successfully transplanted the kidney of a 5 year old boy that was tragically killed in a car accident. That unselfish act gave Bill the gift of life and served him well for the last 25 years. In the last year he had started developing problems with his kidney and was placed on the donation list in need of a replacement. Unfortunately there are far more people in need than there are healthy kidneys available. Bill needed options and decided to reach out to his Corral.net family for help.
What started out with a couple posts about his condition soon became a very popular topic on the late model Mustang website. Eventually a “sticky”, or fixed topic always visible at the top of the page, was made by a member of the staff so anyone on the forum could see Bill’s requests for help. Many members offered help in any way they could from financial assistance to checking their own blood types to see if they were compatible. His prayers were finally answered by Joey, who goes by the screen name SPEEDFREAK87.
Joey was local to Bill and was willing to give up one of his healthy kidneys to someone he had only really known through an internet message board. After undergoing the proper tests it was found that the kidney would be a perfect match and surgery for both was scheduled for Tuesday March 4th at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ. The surgery was an absolute success and Bill once again has a functioning kidney thanks to Joey’s gift.
A special thanks goes to all of the Corral.net members who have been so supportive of this.
Please stop by the Corral.net forum and give your well wishes. The thread is here.