Jennifer Jackson is dedicated to helping her husband, Garrick, navigate a rare form of kidney disease called Glomerulonephritis, a disease that damages the part of the kidney that filters blood.

Garrick was diagnosed at the early age of 17. Over 30 years later, he does dialysis at home every day for over three hours.

“These are emergency bags. You always keep at least 15 to 20 bags of these…just in case your machine doesn’t work,” he said.

Garrick worked at the Sullivan County Correctional Facility as a nurse administrator for 20 years before his condition worsened, sending him home to care for himself.

“First, I started what they called (peritoneal dialysis), which is a different procedure of dialysis. That didn’t work very long for me, so I was trained to do hemodialysis,” he said.

That procedure uses an artificial kidney, circulating the entire blood outside the body and back in. Before his diagnosis in 1988, Garrick remembers the potential of a very lucrative basketball career.

“And before I know it, I couldn’t even run up the court. So as a 17-year-old kid, it was about the worst thing I ever experienced,” he said.

He had his first transplant in 1991, a kidney gifted to him by his mom. Two kidney transplants later, Garrick is in need of a third and what he hopes, his final.

Now, with his two kids and his high school sweetheart, Jackson, they are searching for the third kidney. However, it’s proving difficult, forcing Jackson to get creative.

She made car magnets for family and friends titled, “Our daddy needs a kidney.” It’s displayed prominently on her car.

“And we started getting phone calls, actually pretty quickly. And then I just sent out a note to everybody to ask, 'is anyone willing to take the magnets and distribute them to your friends and family?' and that’s when I got a bunch of people,” Jackson said.

Thanks to her, there are now more than 300 magnets across the U.S., which Garrick says he and his 12-year-old dog, Sadie, are so grateful for.

“The support which she gives me, my parents and my kids, is what helps me get through it. To be honest with you, dialysis is tough, but I just keep pushing,” he said.

If you or someone you know could bring an end to Garrick Jackson's search for a kidney through donation, call the Albany Medical Center at 518-262-4602 for more information on how you can be tested.