My name is Travis Alan Smith. I’m 59 years old and was born and raised on a potato farm in Caribou, Maine. After graduating high school in 1985, I joined the US Army and did four years with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as 31k – Radio/telephone service.
I got out of the Army and went to college for a year at the University of Maine at Presque Isle, and then I transferred down to the University of Maine at Orono with my first wife and two kids, Chris and Jenna. While attending college, I started with the US Postal Service working full-time as a City Letter Carrier, and for a few years and continued to take night courses at UMO.
About 12 years later, 9/11 happened and I joined the local Maine Army National Guard 1136th Transportation Co. as a truck driver. One year later, we were deployed to Kuwait and Iraq for 14 months for Operation Iraqi Freedom. After I came home, I continued working at the Postal Service and continued serving in the National Guard.
Six years later, our National Guard unit was sent to Afghanistan for a year for Operation Enduring Freedom. I came home and continued with the Postal Service and the National Guard until 2015, when I retired from the USPS and finished my term of service with the US Army National Guard.
In 2019 I had my lower right leg amputated due to complications of a blood clot (cause not determined). My medical team wanted to prevent possible sepsis from spreading. I have been using a prosthetic since January 2020 and continuing to live my life!
In September of 2024, I was admitted to the emergency room due to sudden and immediate shutdown of my liver and kidneys. Since then, my liver has recovered and my kidneys are greatly improved, but I’m still doing two days of dialysis since September 2024. Now I am on the transplant list and working on finding a living kidney donor. Being here for my family is very important to me.
I have a lovely wife of 20 years, Laura Lynn McClure Smith. We have two children from my previous marriage, and she has three from her previous marriage and between us, we have 10 grandkids, aged between 16 yrs and 6 months. Thankfully they live close by and that we get to spend time with and help out now and then. We’ve lived in the same house which we’ve kept up and maintained ourselves for 20 years.
I am retired now and spend a great deal of time fishing, hunting, riding motorcycle, four-wheeler and snowmobiling, and of course assisting with the babies/kid watching. Receiving a living donor kidney transplant would give me many more years to enjoy a full and active life and more time with my loved ones.
For medically cleared donors, giving the gift of life through living kidney donation has been proven to be very safe. DOVE will assist all prospective donors throughout the process and make sure they do not incur any out-of-pocket expenses related to the evaluation or surgery. A healthy person can live a normal life with one kidney and save Travis‘s life with the other!
Your support, whether through spreading the word on social media or considering becoming a donor, can make a profound impact on his life and the life of his family!
Please click on the link below if you would like to learn more OR call (551) 233-1611