TOLEDO, Ohio — An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper has been released from the hospital after getting a new kidney. His donor? A Rossford Police Officer.
OSHP Bowling Green Post Commander Matt Geer went into kidney failure in November 2025 at age 43, WTVG reported. Geer suffers from Alport syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects the kidneys.
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“Most people need a transplant before they’re 20 -years- old, and they receive multiple transplants throughout their life,” Geer told WTVG.
The Alliance for Paired Kidney Donation heard about Geer’s story through Ohio State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari. Chief Operating Officer Susan Rees reached out to Geer and began looking for a match.
“In the United States, we have about 100,000 people waiting for a kidney, and this year, we’re only going to transplant about 25,000,” Rees told WTVG.
Fourteen Ohio-based first responders tested to see if they could donate.
Rossford Police Officer Michael Shaffer was Geer’s near-perfect match.
“We had one doctor say that his blood was so closely related to mine, we’re brothers without being technically brothers, which is amazing,” Geer told WTVG.
“He’s my friend, I didn’t want to see him go, so I did what I wanted to do,” Shaffer said.
Both Geer and Shaffer hope to return to law enforcement duties after recovery.
