Pee Dee man makes it in time for life-saving kidney surgery, SC Troopers get him there

DARLINGTON, SC (CNN PATHFIRE) – It was the good news the Howle family waited years to hear – a match for their 23-year-old son Bradley who suffers with kidney disease since the age of 11.

“When you actually get the phone call, all kinds of emotions run through your mind,” said Bradley’s father Lonie.

Once the call was made, the Howles had just hours to make it from Darlington to MUSC in Charleston. It was at the Santee mile marker when those plans came to a screeching halt.

“I heard the tire going out, I heard it making a noise,” Lonie Howle said.

A blown tire with no spare in the car.

“ I just prayed for God to help us and he did,” said Howle.

Lonie remembered to dial *HP.

“I consider them angels on the interstate Thursday night – Friday morning. We just couldn’t have made it without them,” Howle said.

Corporal Antonio Brown was 25 miles away in Orangeburg when he received the urgent call.

“He told me the situation about the transplant, so at that point I said well, I don’t know what I have to do but we gotta get him where they need to go,” Trooper Brown said.

There would be a quick stop, a transfer at I-26. Corporal C.P. Basel would drive the Howle’s to the medical university for a kidney that only would be viable for only so long.

“It was definitely more of a sense of urgency with this one. I knew that for this one young gentleman it was certainly a life or death situation,” Basel said.

The Howle’s were able to it to the emergency entrance with 5 minutes to spare. The hospital had a wheelchair waiting for Bradley.

“They’ll never know, there’s nothing I can do to pay them, far as moneys concerned to show them how much we really appreciate what they done for us and my son especially. But they made the difference, whether he was able to sit here today with a new kidney in his body, I just want to say also to all law enforcement we’re thankful for everything that these guys do,” Howle said.