'Superman' saves fellow Marine's life

PENSACOLA, Florida (AP):

Nicknamed 'Superman' because of his chiselled 6-foot-3 frame, Marine Lieutenant Patrick Wayland saved his most heroic act for last. He donated a kidney to a comrade he never met.

Wayland, a flight student at Pensacola Naval Air Station, died earlier this month after his heart stopped beating during water-survival training. He was already an organ donor, but while on life support, his family decided they wanted to help a fellow Marine.

A doctor who treated the 24-year-old Wayland searched the Internet for 'Marine needing transplant' and found a website for Sergeant Jacob 'Jake' Chadwick, who was stationed on the other side of the country at Camp Pendleton, California.

Chadwick had a serious kidney disease and was undergoing dialysis four hours each day. He and Wayland were about the same age and, after several tests, doctors said they were a match.

"He has given me a second chance at life," Chadwick, 23, said on Tuesday.

Wayland decided he wanted to become a pilot and attend the naval academy after the September 11 terrorist attacks. He was a top high-school student, athlete and involved in his community of Midland, Texas, according to his father. But he didn't get an academy appointment on his first try and went to Texas Tech. He was accepted to the academy the next year.

He had recently taken his first solo flight as a Marine flight student. He sent a text message to his father, David Wayland, as he was waiting on the runway.

"He did accomplish that goal," David Wayland said. "He had done his preliminary flight instruction and his solo flight. I joked with him that if he didn't make it back, we would give his room to his sister."

When Wayland was taken to the hospital August 1, friends and family spent four days at his bedside before he was declared brain dead.