I donated my left kidney in June of 2013. How it happened: I saw a post on my friend’s Facebook page about her sick brother-in-law. This friend was actually a friend of my sister’s from high school many years before. We had not seen each other in well over 10 years. Nevertheless, I felt like my heartstrings were being pulled, so I prayed. Then I sent my friend a message about her brother-in-law. Basically I asked how I could be tested. I ended up getting in touch with his donation coordinator at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. She sent a kit, and I was to have blood run and my urine collected. But I knew I was going to match, I just knew…and I was scared. So I let the kit sit on my counter…and it sat…and a couple of weeks later, I prayed again. I stopped putting it off, went and did the blood work and collected my urine for 24 hours. As I knew they would be, the results were positive for further testing. At this point I had befriended my possible recipient and his wife on Facebook. They knew that I was testing further, and that I would donate. I spoke with Tricia, Dennis’ wife, on the phone after getting the ‘you’re a match’ call. She cried. I cried.
Two weeks before the surgery, I was getting very nervous. I cried with my mom on the way to dinner one night. I was visiting from 1 1/2 hours away, and Dennis lived in the same town as my family. I told my mom that of God wanted me to donate, he was going to have to let me know in a big way. I wiped my tears and we went in the restaurant. God showed up! Not even 10 minutes after we sat down, Dennis, Tricia, and their children walked in! We had never met, but I recognized them from Facebook. I went over to their table and introduced myself. We took a picture together and told each other that we would see each other at the Mayo soon! From that point on, I was excited, nervous too, but mostly excited. That was in 2013. He and his family are very dear to me. We will always be connected, and I feel honored to have been able to help another human in such a humbling way.
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