Alabama Woman Donates Kidney to Officer Who Put Her in Jail

An Alabama woman’s kidney donation saved the life of a police officer who jailed her several times as she was battling an opioid addiction.

Jocelynn James, a recovered drug addict, had been locked up 16 times by Phil Campbell Police Officer Terrell Potter on theft and drug charges between 2007 and 2012, KTTV reported.

James credits Potter, who is now retired, for turning her life around.

“She was out running crazy, stealing and doing drugs and things she shouldn’t be doing,” Potter said. “I locked her up a couple of times.”

James said she eventually got her life straightened out, and on November 5, 2020, she will celebrate eight years of being sober.

“I was sick of living that life, and I wanted to do something different,” James said.

But last November, she found out Potter needed a kidney transplant while she was scrolling through Facebook. He was suffering from kidney failure and doctors told him he had to wait seven to eight years for a new one.

“I just threw my phone down and the Holy Spirit told me right then that I had that man’s kidney,” James said.

A few tests later, they were confirmed to be a perfect match.

“If you asked me 100 names of who may give me a kidney, her name would have not been on the list,” Potter said. “It’s just unbelievable that she was willing to do that.”

James, who now runs a nonprofit providing drug counseling to women, donated one of her kidneys to Potter at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Both are doing well after the procedure.

“It’s very humbling to have somebody would give you a part of their body to extend your life,” Potter told WVTM.