When people have a lot of time on their hands, they often take a vacation – catching up on their sleep and favorite television shows.

But in early 2009, when business was slow for Loudoun Realtor and housing consultant Rosemary deButts, of Purcellville, she decided to use the extra time to donate a kidney.

It was the beginning of a seven-month screening process for deButts, and the beginning of the end of about seven years of waiting on a transplant list for the Rev. Oliver “OJ” Johnson.

When Johnson, a Washington, D.C,. resident, received the news of his kidney failure in 2001, he thought his time had come to die. His training as a Baptist minister told him that if it was his time, he should be prepared to go. He initially refused to go on a transplant list, choosing to use only dialysis for three years.

His oldest daughter went to Johnson’s doctor and asked to be allowed to donate her kidney to her father. But because the family has a history of hypertension and diabetes that led to Johnson’s kidney failure, her offer would probably have been rejected.

“Her maturity level and her love for me were something that I clearly understood,” Johnson said. “I told her, no, that I would not accept it.”

Shortly afterward, his two daughters persuaded him to get on a transplant list. His dialysis had improved his health to the point where he felt like he had a chance. And he had so much to live for – Johnson has been a single parent since his wife died in 1999, and he wanted to take care of his daughters for as long as he could.

Like deButts, Johnson also had to be screened to make sure there were no major health issues besides the kidney failure. In three years, he was called four times and put on a list of five possible recipients for a cadaver kidney. Each time he was third to fifth in line.

When deButts’ kidney became available in late 2009, he was second on the list. The patient first in line was not compatible with the kidney, and on Feb. 16, 2010, Johnson received a new kidney.

Because of deButts’ good kidney health, Johnson was able to leave the hospital after only three days.

He wanted to meet his donor. And he sent a letter to deButts through the Washington Regional Transplant Community. They met March 29.

“I was incredibly nervous,” deButts said. “I knew that he was a reverend and I knew that he was a gentleman, but I didn’t know how he would react to the fact that I’m white and he’s black and I’m not as young as he might have hoped.”

But there was also a desire to see that Johnson was doing well and that the surgery and the months of testing had not been in vain.

“It was like, did this really occur?” deButts said. The only real change in her life had been having to switch permanently from Advil to Tylenol.

“He sends me periodic information about his doctors’ visits,” deButts said. “He doesn’t have to spend four hours a week on dialysis – that’s the part that makes it all worthwhile.”

Since then, deButts and Johnson and their families have become close, and Johnson brought deButts as his guest to the American Kidney Fund National Gala Sept. 28, where he was honored as one of four “Heroes of Hope.”

Johnson said the experience has had a profound effect on his life and ministry. He had always been relatively healthy except for the diabetes, but kidney failure taught him how to live with illness.

“I have seen 20 people die – 20 actual people who I know, spoke to in the waiting room … That is a profound experience: the possibility of being in that number,” Johnson said.

He said his faith sustained him.

“I never had a negative outlook about it,” he said.

Now his goal is to live. He wants to see his 2-year-old grandson grow up and go to college. He also wants to expand his ministry, called More Than Amazing Grace, which helps the poor, homeless, or victims of domestic violence, “get the wherewithal to be able to survive in this society.”

DeButts’ life also changed.

“I’ve met a wonderful person who has a ton to teach me,” she said. “I never would have known him if it hadn’t been for this, and I’m grateful.”