A month ago, Maya Pinson and her mother sat down with News4 to discuss the duo’s movie premiere. Then, they made viewers aware of Maya’s desperate need for a kidney donor.
None of their family members were a match, and there was no one to donate a kidney to the 21-year-old Penn State senior.
“We had nothing,” Maya’s mother, Minyon Pinson said.
“We were relying on the community, prayers. We were just completely trusting God that somebody was going to come forward,” she said.
That’s when Nadia Bennett, widow of the D.C. officer who was killed after being hit by a car while helping a driver, answered their call.
Weeks later, the two finally met face-to-face. Nadia was ecstatic.
“I’m so grateful that you are recovering, you are doing well, and I’m just happy to know that Terry was your match,” Nadia said when the two first met.
“And it just, everything was just so divine,” she said.
Nadia is the widow of late D.C. police officer Terry Bennett. While helping a driver whose car broke down in the eastbound lanes of I-695 near South Capitol Street, Bennett was struck by a high-speed car, police said in a statement.
Bennett rushed to the hospital. Nadia sat with her husband for 15 days.
“Every day throughout Terry fighting through his injuries, I’m just sitting beside his bedside and I’m like, he did a good thing, he did a good job,” Nadia said.
And when doctors told her that Bennett would not recover, she knew what to do.
“They had to let me know that Terry was an organ donor and immediately, Maya popped up in my mind,” she said.
Nadia remembered seeing Maya’s social media post about her kidney disease. The two turned out to have friends in common.
Nadia coordinated a direct kidney donation to Maya, a miracle the family had prayed for.
“It’s so unexplainable,” Minyon said.
“My heart dropped then because it became real. And I said, Maya, you have a donor, because this is her first surgery,” she said.
Weeks after the transplant, Maya is grateful. The young filmmaker is taking her final Penn State courses online.
“And one of my assignments is to make a PSA about the importance of organ donation. So I’m doing a bunch of research,” Maya said.
“It’s really hard for me to put into words. I’m just beaming with joy and so fortunate,” she said.
Nadia told News4 her husband was a hero in life and now in death.
Officer Bennett died at 32 years old. He was a native of Southeast D.C.
To honor Bennett’s life and service, the D.C. Council told News4 they’re declaring July 21, Bennett’s birthday, as Terry Bennett Day.
Nadia, too, honors her late husband, by sporting a custom badge sweatshirt.
“Custom made by the 1st District. It has Terry’s end of watch date and this is his badge,” Nadia said.
On July 21st, Bennett’s birthday, the D.C. Council will honor his life and service as Terry Bennett Day in the District.
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