He was the perfect friend to have in your pocket.
A Pennsylvania man who once criticized a pool rival in a vitriolic post on Facebook has made the ultimate apology 10 years later, giving his rival a “cadillac of kidneys.”
Russ Redhead discovered that James Harris Jr. was in desperate need of a kidney while competing in a pool tournament, and ultimately donated the organ to his former enemy at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore on February 8th. provided.
“James wanted me to hold his hand,” the 42-year-old redhead said with a laugh as she recalled the moment before she was wheeled into the operating room. “So I reached out and said, ‘It’s okay, buddy.’
“forever, [he was] They’re telling jokes and having a good time, but I’m scared to death to be out there,” Harris, 54, told the Post on Wednesday.
Now they both say they are “best friends,” but 10 years ago no one would have predicted that they would voluntarily be in the same operating room.
At the time, they were fighting for an all-expenses-paid trip to a pool tournament in Las Vegas. After Harris took the lead, Redhead took to Facebook to complain, accusing his rival of giving him an unfair advantage.
“I had never seen this guy before…He started hitting me with balls, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay, you can’t underestimate this guy.’ Redhead remembered.
He eventually resigned from his post, and eight months after the Las Vegas tournament, Mr. Redhead and Mr. Harris met at a local game in Maryland, where Mr. Redhead “apologized for the whole outrage.” Harris said.
The two became friendly whenever they met at Maryland tournaments, as Redhead frequently played in Maryland, about an hour and a half from his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
At another pool tournament in November 2022, Redhead encountered Harris’ wife, Denise Epps Harris, and told her that his former adversary was in dire need of a kidney.
After Harris contracted coronavirus in December 2020, doctors discovered blood clots and told her her kidneys were barely functioning. This led to Harris undergoing the first of eight surgeries he would ultimately undergo.
He had a dialysis catheter in his chest and needed to attend treatment three days a week, forcing him to quit his job as a truck driver.
“I thought, ‘Wow, he hides it really well.’ I would never have known he was going through all that,” the redhead said.
“He still had a great pool shot. I mean, it definitely didn’t affect the pool game as much.”
Epps-Harris communicated what he expected from a living donor (age, physical and mental health, history of liver, lung, or kidney disease, among other things), so the former Marine knew it would be his choice. I knew I could do it.
From then on, the process of becoming a “kidney friend for life” began.
“I asked her, and as she went down the list, I was thinking in my head, I just checked them off. ‘Okay…okay…I can do it. It’s like, “Yo.” ”
When he told Epps-Harris that he wanted to donate her kidney to a former rival, she was shocked and began crying.
“I was very happy, but a little nervous because I knew it was going to be a long journey,” she told the Post.
For more than a year, Epps-Harris and Redhead communicated while he underwent extensive testing (heart, lung, blood tests, etc.) to see if he was a good fit.
During that time, Mr. Harris remained in the dark — a deliberate choice, he said, not to get his hopes up.
Harris continued dialysis treatment three days a week and was on the transplant list while waiting.
He was overjoyed when he learned the news, but the road to February 8th was literally bumpy. On the way to the hospital, they got a flat tire and had to be towed by Harris’ stepfather to the medical facility.
Other than the nervousness, everything went well, doctors told the couple that Redhead’s organs were the “Cadillac of kidneys,” and they both got up and walked that day.
“He was moving so well, I was moving like a 78-year-old grandpa,” Harris joked.
Two days later, Redhead went home, and a day after that, so did Harris.
Harris immediately tried to play pool in his basement, the same place where the red head had played the game “I’ll do you for your kidney” before the surgery. He couldn’t play in that game, but a few days later he was all eligible.
Harris is scheduled to play in his first tournament since his transplant on April 20th in his hometown of Glen Burnie, Maryland.
He and his wife plan to visit Lebanon, Pa., in the fall when Redhead opens a pool hall.
Regarding their friendship, Redhead said, “I wouldn’t say we’re best friends, but I think we’re best friends now.”
“Russ is not only our best friend, he is now our brother and family,” Epps-Harris added. “He’s our family.”
