San Marcos Marine receives gift of life from fallen Marine

MILITARY: San Marcos Marine receives gift of life from late comrade
By BRANDI PEREZ
Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2011
Marines Corps bonds run strong and deep, even when troops and their families don't know one another.

Just ask Sgt. Jacob Chadwick of San Marcos, who survived a 2009 combat tour in Iraq only to suffer organ failure.

Chadwick has a new lease on life thanks to a kidney donation from a fellow Marine who died last week.

The kidney, transplanted Sunday, came from 2nd Lt. Patrick Wayland, a man Chadwick had never met but whose family wanted his organs donated to service members in need.

Wayland suffered heart failure Aug. 1 during survival training at Florida's Pensacola Naval Air Station. He died Aug. 6. Wayland's family asked his doctors to find military recipients for their son's organs.

Chadwick, a former Camp Pendleton infantryman, said he is forever grateful. Matching a donor to a kidney patient can take years.


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Marine 2nd LT Patrick Wayland