SUFFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- Flying remote control planes together is Ian and Chris Dennis' favorite father/son activity. But a few years ago, a disease they didn't know lived inside of Ian threatened to take it all away.
"We thought the symptoms were just because he was a growing boy, like leg cramps," Chris said.
According to Ian's parents, in May 2017 one of his kidneys shut down completely while the other was functioning at just six percent. Because of a congenital kidney defect, his kidneys were too small for his age, his mother said. Ian's kidneys were akin to those of a 3-month-old to 1-year-old child.
But it was a freak accident during basketball that helped them find what was wrong.
"I hit my head," said Ian.
It was that concussion that led Ian to get more bloodwork, which told a scary story: Ian was in stage 5 kidney failure.
"And in May of 2015, he started dialysis," Chris said.
Filtering his blood didn't prevent the boy from needing a transplant. His parents posted on Facebook that Ian would need a donor. One of their friends, a dispatcher with the Suffolk Police Department, shared it and one of her friends, Officer Josie Hall, read it.
Then Officer Hall got tested.
She messaged the family and said, "Don't give up. There is hope."
Chris Dennis, who is a firefighter for the Chesapeake Fire Department, could barely believe the police officer who was also a mother to three young children would step up to save his.
"What she did, my God! I mean, it's just... what do you say?" Chris remarked. "Thank you isn't enough. She will always be with us. Always."
Now Ian is able to live out his life like any other teen his age.
"Even now takes he his medication on his own," Chris said. "He's just amazing, how he's dealt with this."
And just as nonchalant as Ian is about dealing with a transplant as a young man, Officer Hall is just as nonchalant about her act of generosity.
Ian's family is grateful she had a heart big enough to give him a kidney.