Prosper’s Story: A Miracle, a Mission and a New Beginning
There is a reason the Live, Love & Prosper Foundation believes so deeply in the power of telling someone’s story. For Prosper, sharing his story changed his life.
Years before the LLP Foundation existed, Prosper was building a life centred around music, faith, family and community. Alongside his wife, Melissa, he recorded music, performed, received Gospel Music Awards and built a following that extended beyond Ottawa into Montreal, Toronto and the United States. Through radio, music, community involvement and his role as the resident Ottawa Senators intermission DJ, Prosper became a familiar face and voice to many.
While Prosper was building a life around the things he loved, his health was about to take him somewhere he never expected.
When Life Changes Without Warning
Prosper’s health journey began with being diagnosed with lupus. There were years when the severity of his condition was difficult to fully accept, especially when he felt well. But over time, his kidney function began to decline.
By then, Prosper and Melissa’s lives had changed in another important way: they had become parents. After facing fertility challenges and beginning the adoption process, they unexpectedly learned that Melissa was also pregnant. The family they had hoped and prayed for was becoming a reality.
So when Prosper was told his kidneys had completely failed, the fear wasn’t simply about what would happen to him.
It was about whether he would have enough time with his children.
“I’m okay with anything that happens to me, but give me at least some time for Harmony to be grown enough… to not say that she grew without a dad.”
It was one of the lowest points of his life. But it was also where the way Prosper understood his journey began to change.
Finding Strength in a Difficult Moment
While Prosper was in the hospital, a friend unexpectedly came to see him. Prosper had actually asked not to have visitors, but his friend entered the room, sat with him and eventually began speaking.
Prosper’s friend began addressing things he had just been privately asking God about. Then came the words that would stay with him throughout everything that followed:
“This is not about you.”
At the time, Prosper couldn’t have known just how significant those words would become.
He still had kidney failure to face. He still needed a transplant. He still had to do something that made him deeply uncomfortable: publicly tell people that he needed a kidney.
What Happens When Someone Hears Your Story?
When Prosper learned that he needed a kidney, his wife, Melissa, wanted to tell everyone. Prosper, understandably, didn’t.
There is an enormous vulnerability in publicly saying that you need help. Prosper was reluctant to put that out into the world, even though he had something many people searching for a donor don’t have: an established voice within his community.
Eventually, his story began to spread.
People and organizations within the community helped amplify it. Prosper spoke publicly about his kidney failure and his need for a living donor. One of those conversations took place on CHRI Radio.
And someone heard it.
Paul, Prosper’s eventual donor, didn’t know him personally. He heard his story and felt compelled to respond. He contacted the transplant program and asked to be tested as a potential kidney donor for Prosper.
Think about what had to happen for that moment to exist.
Prosper had to be willing to tell a deeply personal story. Someone had to give him a platform. That story had to reach beyond his immediate family and friends. And somewhere on the other side of it, the right person had to be listening.
Paul was listening.
His decision ultimately gave Prosper something extraordinary: another chance at life.
A Second Chance Comes With a Question
Receiving a kidney from someone he didn’t know left Prosper with a question that couldn’t be answered simply by returning to normal life.
“How do you receive such a blessing? How do you receive such a gift for you to have life again?”
For Prosper, gratitude needed to become action.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the circumstances that had led to his transplant. His story had reached someone willing to help him. But what about the people waiting for kidneys who didn’t have a radio show, a public profile or a large community platform?
Who would hear their stories?
That question sits at the heart of the Live, Love & Prosper Foundation.
What If More People Had the Chance to Be Heard?
Finding a living kidney donor can feel almost impossible. Somewhere in the world may be a person willing to consider donation, but first they need to understand the need. They need to know the person behind it.
That’s where stories matter.
A person waiting for a kidney is not a statistic or a name on a transplant list. They might be a parent who wants to watch their children grow up. A grandparent who wants more Christmas mornings surrounded by grandchildren. A spouse who wants more anniversaries. A friend, neighbour, coworker or stranger who simply wants the freedom to keep living the life they love.
Sharing those stories doesn’t guarantee what happens next. But it gives something important a chance to happen: connection.
Prosper knows what that connection can mean because he lived it.
“Paul heard my call and he was led to make such a move.”
One person heard. One person responded. One life changed.
Sharing Stories That Change Lives
The Live, Love & Prosper Foundation began with Prosper’s experience, but it was never meant to stop there.
In many ways, that message from his hospital room has come full circle.
This is not about you.
Today, it’s about the next person whose story we share. It’s about the families navigating chronic illness behind closed doors and the people waiting and hoping for a transplant. And it’s about the potential donors who may not yet realize how profoundly they could change someone’s life.
The LLP Foundation exists to help create the opportunity that changed Prosper’s life: the opportunity to be heard.
“This movement right here is for other people to have the hope and the opportunity, just like me, to be able to tell their story.”
Prosper received his second chance because someone heard his story.
Now, Live, Love & Prosper is helping others tell theirs.
Watch Prosper’s story above, then join us in sharing the stories of people searching for living kidney donors. You never know who might be listening.
