By Jennifer Roberts – Spectrum News

To see the full interview, click here.

In 2022, Anthony Davis, a veteran and Blue Bear alumnus, was named Livingstone College’s 13th president.

“I operate by this one notion — if service is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you,” Davis said. “For me, it’s an act of service. I’ve been entrusted not only to lead but also serve. That’s what it is for me, service.”

Under his leadership, freshman enrollment has surged, and the campus has undergone significant improvements.

Davis is also credited with helping lead philanthropy efforts, raising over $49 million for the historically Black institution.

But the beloved Blue Bear leader is now facing a life-threatening illness.

Davis is in stage five kidney failure. He’s in urgent need of a transplant.

“My kidneys have totally failed,” Davis said. “Every night, I’m on a dialysis machine for nine hours.”

His blood type is O positive, and despite months of testing, a donor match has not yet been found.

Davis revealed his diagnosis publicly during the college’s spring commencement ceremony.

“I’ve been fighting this disease that has been holding me hostage,” Davis said during the graduation event.

“I want to send a shout out to all the people who signed up at Duke Medical Center to possibly be my match because of that one appeal I made at graduation,” Davis said.

Davis said family members were tested as potential donors but were not matches.

Now, the college is turning to the broader public to help save his life.

Livingstone launched a national Be My Match campaign to find a kidney for Davis.

“In [the Black community] we don’t really talk about organ donations. But we really need our community to show up because we’re genetically different,” Davis said.

“I’m looking for someone who will be my match. I have a blood type where I need a specific donor who’s O positive or O negative. In a suppressed donor pool, that makes it even more difficult,” Davis said.

Livingstone students Genice Smith and Benjamin Courtney said Davis won’t face this fight alone.

“We’re standing together in unity,” Smith said. “It is heart aching to see that he is going through this. This is not just a college, this is a family unit. We stand together and we stand beside each other.”

Smith and Courtney said the campus community is doing more than just offering emotional support.

From prayer meetings to blood type testing, students, college and church members have launched a grassroots effort to help find Davis a kidney donor.

“We’ve been doing everything we can, spreading the word,” Courtney said.

Even while undergoing hourly dialysis treatments, Davis remains a highly visible leader.

“You have to make up in your mind — you might have kidney disease, but kidney disease does not have to have you,” Davis said. “It slows me down a little bit, but it won’t stop me. That’s the key. It’s about endurance.”

“I’m a man of faith. If you can’t do anything else, pray for me,” Davis said.

Those interested in being a transplant candidate can register on the Duke Health website.