Donor Search Success Stories

Tim Letts, a US Army veteran who was an Uber driver in New Jersey, went out of his way to help a 73-year-old man, Bill Sumiel, who needed kidney transplantation. Tim met Bill when Bill called for an Uber to get home from his regular treatment at the dialysis centre.

After more than 20 years of battling kidney disease, Essex Tech masonry teacher David Collins learned that his life depended on finding a donor. Nearly 100 people signed up to be screened, but the ideal kidney match came from an unexpected source: his boss.

Amanda Hayhurst had no intention of being a kidney donor until she read Vonchelle Knight’s story. While at her oldest son’s tae kwon do class, Hayhurst spotted a sign that read “please help us save our mom.”

When Debbie Kooker received a new kidney, she had no idea who the donor was. Her donor,Kara Wallace, is only 20 years old. Her family has been close to Debbie’s family for decades, and Kara knew her gift had to be top secret because Debbie would have tried to talk her out of it.

When Ira Hadnot needed a kidney transplant, her brother, Kelvin, wanted to donate but couldn’t. Kelvin’s boss, Gina Micheli, told Kelvin she wanted to be Ira’s donor. “He didn’t ask her, we didn’t put up a billboard, we didn’t go on TV,” Ira exclaimed. “She just stepped forward and volunteered, and it was a match!”

It was during the Lenten season in 2022 that Dr. Christine Gaynier received an email from a longtime friend of her mother. The message was about the friend’s 17-year-old son, Will, who needed a kidney transplant and was looking for a donor. Gaynier, a local family medicine physician, wanted to help.

After months of driving around the city with an advertisement for a kidney donor on her bright red car, Debbie Onishenko will soon be able to rip off the decals as her search has ended.

When Linda Griggs needed a kidney transplant, an artist friend helped get the word out with a 5-foot hand-painted sign including the URL to Griggs’ National Kidney Registry microsite. The sign got 137 potential donors to register with the NKR. One was a match.

A Flagstaff man has received the gift of life, undergoing successful transplant surgery after his wife spent months trying to find him a living donor. Their miracle was finally answered when a woman contacted them through Facebook and ended up being a match.

Back in 1966, when kidney transplants were new and dangerous, Butch Newman was days from death. Then his younger sister stepped up. She was a perfect match.