Johns Island event planner Jarvis L. White, who was diagnosed in December 2025 with kidney failure, is slowly growing a kidney-transplant support group to rally people who are anxiously awaiting the gift of an organ.
The Villagers That Rock support group grew from White’s monthly sharing of kidney disease information at his Wadmalaw Island church, New Webster United Methodist Church, to a social media conversation about the latest medical treatments and implantation options.
Two members of the five participants in the support group, he said, have received kidneys. They have joined the more than 3,000 South Carolinians who are living with donated organs, according to American Kidney Fund (AKF) data compiled in 2024.
White does not take credit for helping support group members to find a viable match. Those patients were on the transplant list, he said, before they engaged with Villagers That Rock.
“I was praying with them and for them as they were waiting,” he added.
The Medical University of South Carolina recently told White it might have a donor for him. His medical team, he said, stressed that more testing is needed before that can be confirmed.
White’s father, Jessie White of Johns Island, said he is “grateful” for the possibility that his son will be paired with a donor. But he can’t believe Jarvis’s kidney failed when it appears he was a healthy forty-three-old.
The AKF reports that in 2023 only about one in three Palmetto State residents on the kidney transplant waiting list received a transplant.
A bond with God
The deeply religious Jarvis White said the support group’s interactions go beyond conversations about the medical and emotional aspects of waiting for a kidney. It also includes establishing a spiritual bond with God.
As the word spread that he needed a kidney, people asked how they could provide support. He responded, “Pray for me and pray with me. When you pray with me it strengthens the bond of God hearing you and when you pray for me that gives me the push I need to move forward.”
White said he believes God selected him to help others who are also waiting for a kidney transplant.
“He chose me for a reason to go through this, and I am going to survive this” to assist others on the journey, he said.
According to the AKF, high blood pressure and diabetes are the leading causes of kidney failure. White said he does not have either condition. He was a distance runner on the St. Johns High School track team. Until his diagnosis, he was physically active at his church and his business, the JWhite Consulting Firm.
His lifestyle and diet changed suddenly on the Sunday morning after Christmas in 2025.
“I woke that morning and my hands and feet were numb,” he said. When he tried to stand, he fell. He returned to bed, but later he tried to stand again, and he fell a second time. He eventually went to the emergency room. The following day, he was admitted to the hospital where he was diagnosed with dehydration and kidney failure.
A warning sign
The summer before the diagnosis, White said his energy level dropped sharply. He reduced his schedule, which included decorating the church for special events and singing in the choir. “I hated that I had to sit myself down,” said White, who sings as a tenor but speaks in baritone.
He said he took a week’s vacation in Asheville, but when he returned, he jumped back into a fast-paced work load. Family and friends advised him to slow down, he recalled. But he responded: “I can do this. I am still young.”
Some 73% of just over 14,000 South Carolinians who live with kidney failure receive regular dialysis treatment, according to AKF data. White, however, said he did not want to be connected to a dialysis unit. He chose something different — peritoneal dialysis.
Four times a day, he filters waste products and excess fluids out of his blood using the inner lining of his abdomen, which serves as a natural filter instead of an external dialysis unit.
“I understand now what rest and relaxation looks like because I do my treatments at home, so I am able to relax and twiddle my thumbs,” he said with a laugh. To do it at home successfully, he explained, requires a lot of will power, if he wants to live.
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