Texas Health
From the left, Craig Griffith, a retired choir teacher, and Weslyn Standard pose for a pic before Griffith’s kidney transplant surgery.
Sometimes, life writes the most profound harmonies. For Craig Griffith, a retired choir teacher, and Weslyn Standard, a devoted choir mom, their shared love for music composed a story of unwavering friendship and lifesaving generosity.
Griffith, who dedicated three decades to teaching music, once had Standard’s three children in his choir. Their bond, built on school trips and countless performances, was quiet but steadfast. So when Griffith shared on Facebook that he was in renal failure and desperately needed a kidney transplant, Standard felt an unshakable pull to help.
“It was just an unexplained bond,” Standard said. “We never spent time together outside of choir events, but God knew where we were going to be in 20 years.”
On December 10, that bond reached its crescendo when Standard donated her kidney to Griffith at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth.
“Honestly, I feel like a million bucks,” Griffith said. “It’s the greatest Christmas present I’ve ever received.”
Their journey to this moment was made smoother by Texas Health Fort Worth’s outreach clinic in Midland, established in 2019. The clinic bridges the 300-mile gap between Midland-Odessa patients and the transplant team, offering evaluations and follow-up care locally.
“The patients get the advantage of not having to drive into Fort Worth for their evaluations,” said Robyn Dye, administrator of the kidney transplant program. “We use the local resources, including the hospitals and physicians in the community, to complete the long evaluation process and testing required to get listed for a transplant,” After surgery, patients stay in Fort Worth for about three weeks before returning home, where follow-up visits continue in Midland.”
Griffith praised the program, calling his care team "the most incredible people" he had ever encountered.
Music, Griffith’s lifelong passion, even found its way into the operating room. Dr. Eric Siskind, his transplant surgeon, offered to play Griffith’s favorite tunes during surgery. Griffith eagerly requested jazz legends like Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis.
Post-surgery, Siskind recalled, “I told him we played Brubeck when he came in and Miles Davis while we were sewing in the kidney.” Griffith, ever the music lover, asked with mock seriousness, “What about Neil Diamond?”
Realizing the oversight, Siskind and the nurses broke into a spirited rendition of Diamond’s "Coming to America" in the recovery room, turning the sterile space into an impromptu concert hall.
For Standard, donating her kidney was a decision rooted in faith and a deep desire to help others.
“I never ever, not even rolling into surgery, had one minute that I thought, ‘I’m doing the wrong thing,’” she said. “There was not one ounce of hesitation on my part. I know, without a doubt, that my peace came from the Lord. He placed the desire in my heart to donate and then provided me with perfect peace throughout the process.”
Griffith said he could never repay Standard and plans to stay in touch with her for the rest of his life.
Griffith continued, “That is about the highest form of unconditional love that you can give somebody – to say I care enough about you and your health that I’m willing to undergo this surgery and give you part of my body, so that you might live a longer and better life."
