A chance meeting six years gave a new lease on life to a Nicodemus man - literally. And, on Tuesday, Gov. Sam Brownback welcomes him and his friend to the Capital so they can share their story of generosity and friendship. 
 
 According to the governor's office, Rob Robinson, a hunter from Mississippi, was looking for a place to hunt pheasant when he knocked on the door of Gil Alexander back in 2008. Four years later, Robinson surprised Alexander with the gift of a kidney donation that saved his life. 
 
 Gov. Brownback first heard their story last year during the Governor's Pheasant Hunt. He was so touched by it he invited them to share their story as he marks National Donate Life Month. 
 
 ||||| Rob Robinson, left, of Starkville, Miss., chats with Gil Alexander, of Nicodemus, Kan., at a prairie chicken display Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kansas. Robinson and Alexander... (Associated Press) 
 
 Rob Robinson, left, of Starkville, Miss., chats with Gil Alexander, of Nicodemus, Kan., at a prairie chicken display Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kansas. Robinson and Alexander... (Associated Press) 
 
 TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Two hunters brought together by a love of the outdoors formed a friendship leading one to donate a kidney to the other, a friendship that has led to a foundation aimed at sharing the outdoors with others. 
 
 Rob Robinson, a 45-year-old firefighter from Starkville, Miss., happened to knock on Gil Alexander's door in 2008 in northwest Kansas seeking permission to hunt pheasant. Robinson returned three years later, this time to hunt turkey on Alexander's property. 
 
 "I didn't remember his name, but I knew the voice and Mississippi," Alexander said Tuesday of their second meeting. 
 
 That's when Robinson learned that Alexander was ill and needed a kidney transplant to prolong his life. Robinson returned to Mississippi and got tested and found out he was a match, in fact closer than if they were brothers. 
 
 "He texted me and said 'I'm a match'," Alexander said. "I put down the phone and started to cry." 
 
 Robinson, a soft-spoken man of few words, jokes that giving the kidney wasn't required for getting permission to hunt, but felt like the right thing to do. 
 
 "I never thought I would be an organ donor, let alone a living one," he said. 
 
 The two went to a Kansas City Chiefs football game together then went to the hospital the next day for the surgery on Nov. 26, 2012. In the process, Alexander also learned he had early stages of pancreatic cancer, which doctors were able to remove. 
 
 "I just feel like the most blessed person on the planet," said Alexander, 56. 
 
 The transplant gave Alexander new life, allowing him to stop dialysis and to continue farming his nearly 3,000 acres north of Nicodemus. The men decided to build on their friendship and start Forever Outdoors, an organization that brings wounded veterans, children and others to northwest Kansas to experience hunting and nature. 
 
 Alexander and Robinson met with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and other state wildlife officials Tuesday to talk about their organization and to raise awareness of the need for organ donors. 
 
 Robinson, who holds the record for one of the largest turkeys ever shot, said he always wanted to start a hunting business and the connection with Alexander is helping him fulfill that dream. The two are hoping to create a "five-star resort" where people can come experience hunting and the outdoors by overcoming any physical or financial obstacles. 
 
 "I also want to turn my house in Mississippi into a lodge," Robinson said. 
 
 Alexander, a fourth-generation Kansas farmer, said his great-grandfather was from Mississippi and was a Buffalo Soldier in the Army. He's traveled to the South to see his friend and promote their foundation.
– There's the donor waiting list, and then there's this: A Mississippi hunter who knocked on a Kansas farmer's door seeking permission to hunt ended up giving the stranger a kidney. As the AP recounts, Rob Robinson first knocked on Gil Alexander's door in 2008 to hunt pheasants. He showed up again three years later to hunt turkey. Again, Alexander consented to the hunt, but this time they got to talking, and Alexander shared that he was ailing and in need of a kidney transplant. When Robinson got home, he got tested. "He texted me and said, 'I'm a match'," recalls Alexander. "I put down the phone and started to cry." Since the successful donation—doubly successful because doctors discovered that Alexander had early-stage pancreatic cancer and snuffed it out—the men have gone on to found Forever Outdoors, a nonprofit that brings vets, kids, and others to Kansas for nature and hunting expeditions. Today, they met with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback to talk about the initiative, reports WIBW, which has video.