GAI is proud to announce Sean Noll as the 2020 Presidents Award winner. The President’s award is not given every year but is when we have an employee that has done something extraordinary, gone above for the company, an employee, or another person. Several months ago, Sean saw a post on Facebook from an old high school friend’s father was looking for a kidney donor. Without delay, knowing he could potentially assist, Sean reached out to the transplant coordinator at Christ Hospital that same day. After a brief conversation, she overnighted the paperwork to Sean which was an extensive 10-page questionnaire to qualify if he was a potential donor. He filled it out that evening and hand delivered it to Christ Hospital the next day. Shortly after, they contacted him, letting him know he qualified for further testing. Three days after this, a different high school friend posted on Facebook that his brother needed a kidney. Sean remembered this classmate’s younger brother, Ryan, from their days at Covington Catholic High School and he knew that he was a young man with several young children. Sean called the transplant coordinator and asked to be tested for eligibility for Ryan as well. Within a week, he learned that he was not a match for the first patient but was indeed eligible to donate to Ryan. Sean went through extensive physical and emotional evaluations to be certain that the procedure would be a safe as possible for both parties, and that everyone understood the risks involved. Sean consulted with his family and prayed on his decision and ultimately decided he was, “called to do it.” They moved forward to get the surgery planned. On November 17th, Sean and Ryan had their surgeries. There were a few issues that arose but today, they both are healthy and happy.

When asked why Sean was willing to put himself through this pain and risk, he said, “somebody needed my help and I felt if I could I needed to do it. I’ve been blessed my whole life—blessed with the people in my life, blessed with the outcomes, blessed with my work—and I need to pass that along to someone else.” We are so proud of Sean for helping save Ryan’s life and proud to announce him as the 2020 GAI President’s Award winner.