Glynn Sheridan said he believes at some point we all get a second chance. He just got his.

Sheridan’s niece, Mali Thompson Bullard, recently donated her kidney to Sheridan, who for years has struggled with polycystic kidney disease.

He emerged from the surgery to what he sees as a new life, and he praises organ donation.

“I’m going to do everything I can to take this gift and make the best of it,” he said.

Sheridan, president of Sunflower Bank in Lawrence, inherited the disease from his father, Stanley Sheridan. The disease causes the kidneys to fill with cysts until they eventually stop working.

Before the transplant, Sheridan scheduled his life around regular visits to the hospital for dialysis treatment. He couldn’t eat certain foods, and he carried around pills to control his system.

He had adapted to life with the disease. He didn’t know, until now, how much it took from him.

“I guess I just didn’t know how bad I was feeling,” he said.

Glynn Sheridan, president of Sunflower Bank, is enjoying a second chance in life following his kidney transplant surgery in late May.

The transplant took place in late May. Bullard’s kidney worked immediately, Sheridan said.

“By the time I was back in my room, I already felt better,” he said.

Weeks later, Sheridan looks like a different person. He appears years younger. His complexion, once pale, is now peach-tinted and bright.

He has a little more fire in his step, said his wife, Jan.

“I don’t know if I ever really knew the real Glynn until now, because he’s always had some kidney problems,” Jan Sheridan said. “It’s kind of the like the Glynn I met years and years ago.”

His appetite is back. He sleeps better. He is energetic and hopeful.

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“I’ve got friends who say, ‘The old Glynn is back,'” he said. “I’ve got a pretty bright future ahead of me.”

Bullard’s recovery was similarly smooth.

“The only hiccup for me was I was so nauseous,” she said.

In the time leading up to the procedure, Bullard was focused on the task.

“I was all business,” she said.

She has called the decision to donate her kidney “a no-brainer.” She did it because she loves her uncle and wanted to help him.

But she focused on the procedures, the tests, the shots. It wasn’t until 10 days after the surgery that she was struck by the enormity of her actions.

Sheridan is pictured with his niece, Mali Thompson Bullard, who supplied the donor kidney, shortly before his surgery.

She took walks after the surgery to help get back on her feet. Often someone would go with her. Or she would walk only for a few minutes.

But one day, Bullard found the strength to go farther, to walk on her own. She wore headphones. And as she put one foot in front of the other, she was struck by a realization of what she had done.

“It was just kind of ‘Oh my god. What did we just do?'” she said. “It felt amazing.”

Years ago, in the late 1970s, Sheridan’s father received a transplanted kidney, but his body rejected it. He later died of a heart attack, which the family believes was caused by years of dialysis weakening his heart.

Sheridan called his father an “eternal optimist” whose positive model helped Sheridan through his own ordeal.

Bullard said she sees that optimism in her uncle.

“I see him as amazing and kind of an inspiration,” she said. “He was always positive. Now he’s up three notches. I love being around him.”

Both say they are forever changed by the transplant. It was a test of Bullard’s courage, and it made her stronger. It gave Sheridan a new life. They believe others could be helped if more people considered organ donation.