On a windblown stretch of interstate in central Kansas, four handwritten words make a startling request: "I Need A Kidney."


The statement was painted by James Nelson, 70, on behalf of his 73-year-old wife, Sarah, who has suffered from kidney failure since 2009[1] , reports the Kansas City Star. The couple has been looking for a donor since 2011, says Nelson, but none of the offers -- coming from close friends and family -- had been the right fit.


So they hatched a plan.


“I called a nurse at the Mayo Clinic, where I had been approved for a kidney transplant, and she said a guy in Milwaukee got a kidney by putting up a billboard,” Sarah told the Star. “My husband knew someone who had a family member who had a billboard. Sure enough, one was available[2] .”


Armed with black paint and a roller, James climbed a shaky ladder and scrawled the message out by hand.


“It was a particularly cold morning that day. I grabbed a chair and sat there making sure he wouldn't fall[3] from that ladder,” Sharon recalled to ABC News.


Since they rented the billboard last month, the Nelsons say a number of people have contacted them, but none has worked out. Mismatched blood types and other medical issues have conspired to keep willing donors from being able to give a kidney..



"One of the people, who is a perfect blood match, had had tuberculosis, so they were unable to donate[4] and the other phone calls have been the wrong blood type," Sharon told KAKE.


But they haven't given up hope. “We've been overwhelmed by the generosity of people[5] ," Sharon said.


For more information on organ donation, and to become a donor yourself, visit organdonor.gov[6] . As of June 2013, more than 96,000 people in the United States were awaiting a kidney transplant[7] .